Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Front Row Motorsports Announcement | Wednesday, July 10, 2024

Front Row Motorsports announced today that Noah Gragson will be joining the team for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. The team held a press conference today to discuss the signing. Following is a transcript of the on stage remarks.

BOB JENKINS, Owner, Front Row Motorsports – “We’re pretty excited to announce that Noah Gragson will be joining us at Front Row Motorsports for next year in 2025 and beyond. We’re super excited. Noah is a guy who has been successful on every level of racing he’s ever been in and we’ve just watched him grow over the last couple of years in the Cup Series and we believe he’s just starting to scratch the potential of what he can do. This wouldn’t be possible without the support of Ford and Ford Performance and just the partnership that they’ve given us. Without being a tier one Ford team, we could never, ever think about signing a driver like Noah and just so excited to see what we can do together with Ford Performance and with Noah.

“The other thing I would say about Noah that really impressed me. We sat down when we met and talked is how much respect he has for this sport. He really understands it’s a fan-driven sport. He just relates so well with fans. He’s only been in this series a couple of years but he’s already become one of the most popular drivers. We really think that translates with our marketing partners to what we can do and achieve, so we’re just super excited about what the future holds for Noah and so glad he’s going to be with us for several years.”

NOAH GRAGSON, Driver, Front Row Motorsports in 2025 – WHY DID YOU WANT TO JOIN FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS? “It’s definitely exciting times. When we started out this year I didn’t know how I was gonna run. I didn’t know if I had the potential to run in the Cup Series just based off how the 2023 season went, and to be able to get my feet underneath me with the opportunity at Stewart-Haas it definitely opened peoples’ eyes and with the challenges that have come about with Stewart-Haas, we were looking for a home for a long time and that’s when I got introduced to Bob and Jerry and being able to sit down with them and talk and see what their goals were and what their vision was. The thing that stuck out in my mind most importantly is what Jerry said when we met was Bob’s goal is grow each and every year and through the experiences that I’ve had in the last several years, it’s been fun to challenge myself and there are challenges and adversity along the way, but during that building process I really enjoy that time to step up as a leader and help grow the organization. With Bob’s vision of wanting to become better and better each and every year, it seemed like the right place. He’s obviously very financially invested in the team. There are a lot of great partners over there and they want to grow and build and his investment into a third charter, he wants to expand this thing. Bob, I appreciate the opportunity and I’m excited to get to work next year.”

THIS ALLOWS YOU TO STAY WITH FORD PERFORMANCE. HOW ADVANTAGEOUS WILL THAT BE? “Ford and Ford Performance have been a family from the top down. Everybody involved, whether it be Pat, Jeannee, Mark, everybody that’s involved on the Ford Performance side it’s been a lot of fun developing the relationship with them throughout this year. We’re only halfway through the year and they feel like family to me. We’ve had a lot of fun times together. The other drivers in the Ford group. the Ford camp, they’ve been really fun to work with, especially on the superspeedways. We’ve run pretty good there too. The Ford horsepower under the hood. The Robert Yates engines have been great, so it’s been a lot of fun working with the Ford camp and I can’t wait to continue to grow the relationship there.”

WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU BRING TO FRONT ROW? “That’s probably a better question for my peers to answer, but, for me, I feel like people are the most important thing and being able to bring a group of people together and change the atmosphere of a building is important to me. If you can get everybody pulling the same rope and working hard together and making an atmosphere that people want to come to work, when you get to week 20 or week 30 of this Cup grind that’s when times are tough. It’s easy to fire off with a lot of excitement throughout the year, but if not everybody is working together on week 20, this deal is a grind and it’s challenging. You’ve got to create that excitement and bring energy to the shop, so I feel like I could probably bring quite a bit of energy to the atmosphere of Front Row and I’m really looking forward to it.”

HOW MUCH HAS THE UPTICK IN PERFORMANCE AT FRONT ROW THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS MADE YOU WANT TO JOIN THEM? “It’s definitely been eye opening. They’ve run good, Michael and Todd, obviously run good. Layne has been running good in the Truck Series, so coming in I’ve been teammates with Todd in the past and being able to work with him. I think we can build our chemistry. He’s learned a lot of stuff throughout the years since we’ve been removed from the Kyle Busch Motorsport days. I don’t know who the third driver will be, but I’m sure we can all work together and come together and have success on the racetrack. Like I said earlier, Bob’s vision is to keep on growing and become better each and every year. This deal has been going since their start, so with that being said, Michael and Todd’s performance on the racetrack has definitely been eye opening. It doesn’t go unnoticed, not only myself but I think everybody in the garage. The Front Row Motorsports guys have speed throughout the weekends, each and every weekend, so they also have an alliance with Penske, so having that and being able to rely on the teammates over there with all their drivers, I think it’s all thumbs up for me.”

HOW WILL IT BE TO WORK WITH TODD AGAIN? “Todd and I have been racing each other for probably the last 10 years, dating back to the K&N West Series. He was in the 16 car for Bill McAnally and we were racing for Jefferson PItts Racing and we had some fierce battles on the racetrack. We became teammates over at Kyle Busch Motorsports and it’s gonna be nice to be able to rekindle that relationship on the racetrack as teammates now. It’s been a few years in between, but I think from all of our learnings from the past organizations that we’ve both been at, we can definitely work together and help each other to become better.”

JERRY FREEZE, General Manager, Front Row Motorsports – WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT NOAH’S PROGRAM FOR NEXT YEAR? “It’s a big day for Front Row and we’re really excited to have Noah join the team. He brings a lot of enthusiasm across the board, not just with his driving talent, but from what I understand of how he’s worked with the groups that he’s with, whether it be road crew guys, pit crew guys, marketing people, whatever, so we’re really excited to kick it off today and get started with Noah joining our team and really adding an exciting element to our group.

“We’ve got some holes to fill still with Noah’s team. We’re pretty close on figuring out who the crew chief is and some of the main parts of it. There’s still another driver to be determined at Front Row, but we’re zoning in on that, so we’re leaving it a little loose of who is in what car number and it’s just trying to make all the pieces of the puzzle fit just right, but I think we’ve got a pretty good idea of where it’s all going and we should be able to announce it all real soon. But again, just touching on Noah, we’re just excited to have him join our group and having the partnerships that we can bring to the table, there are some partners what will be coming along that we’ll announced at a later date, and also new relationships to be forged over the year. I’m excited to have him here. He’ll be with Front Row on a multi-year deal. Touching on the relationship with Ford. We’ll continue that. We’re a Ford team for the foreseeable future and with this alliance with Team Penske it has us in a tier one platform. It’s the first time Front Row has been in that place in our 14 years with Ford, so it’s starting to show up on the racetrack with more consistent speed in our race cars. I know in talking to the leadership at Team Penske about Noah joining our team, they’re just as excited about it as we are and what he can bring to the group every Sunday at the racetrack. I’m really looking forward to 2025. There’s still work to do in ‘24, but really excited where the lineup is going at Front Row with the youth we have in Todd Gilliland really coming into his own this year, with Noah kind of in a similar place in his career. Layne Riggs driving our truck is the future for Front Row and I think we’re gonna have another exciting piece to the puzzle here in the next few weeks.”

WHAT DID THE TIMELINE LOOK LIKE TO GET NOAH ON BOARD? “I don’t know. I remember talking to his people in early May, I think, kind of when some of the buzz was going around about Stewart-Haas. I think at the time he had a multi-year commitment with Stewart-Haas that was still to be determined, so we didn’t really have any real serious dialogue at that point, but we definitely conveyed that we were very, very interested if he were able to get freed up. Once Stewart-Haas made their formal announcement, we were certainly really aggressive because he was our number one player on the board, so to speak.”

WHAT ROLE IS NOAH PLAYING IN DETERMINING ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL THAT WILL BE PART OF THE RACE TEAM? “As far as crew chief, spotter and things of that nature, a hugely significant role. Those are relationships that are kind of like marriages and you can’t just force two people together. You’ve got to make sure they want to work together, so I think that’s something that we’re on the same page with. We’ve just got to put it all together and I think we’re pretty close on that.”

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES KNOWING YOU’LL HAVE THREE CARS NEXT YEAR? “I think the biggest challenge you have is communication. We’ve tried three cars at Front Row in the past. I’ve been a part of three car teams in prior times and the biggest challenge I see that I want to try to address right from the start is you always seem to get two teams that line up pretty good together and there’s third team that’s kind of the red-headed stepchild of the group. The crew chief doesn’t get along with the others because the other two are buddies, so we’re gonna have three teams under that roof. They’ve all got to get along. I think it starts with the drivers. If the drivers, and having Noah and Todd with a prior relationship is hugely important. If they’re on the same page, it’ll be a lot harder to keep secrets from each other, so we’ll work really hard on the communication piece. I think the parts and pieces, we’re way ahead of it. We’re gonna be in a good place. We’ve kind of figured out shop space, so I think we’ve got the groundwork laid to make it all work.”

WHAT’S THE TEAM’S RECEPTION BEEN TO NOAH JOINING THE GROUP? “We told the team this morning and there was a lot of enthusiasm about it, for sure. Noah is a likeable guy, for sure, and brings a big personality to the team and an energy and I think people are just excited to know that filling the void of Michael McDowell leaving is hard without a doubt, so Noah coming in – somebody that people are excited about, kind of a very different personality than where Michael is in his life, I think, has brought a real spirit to the shop and I think people are just excited to get to know Noah and get to work.”

WAS NOAH THERE AT THE SHOP? “No, he’s still doing his full-time job right now. He had a sim session this morning, so he couldn’t make it. We’ll have to bring him over later.”

BOB JENKINS CONTINUED – WHAT IS A COMMONALITY BETWEEN THE DRIVERS WE’VE SEEN OVER THE YEARS AT YOUR ORGANIZATION? “I just think they’ve been really close. Michael has been a great mentor to Todd. They race well together. They work well together. That’s probably the thing I’m most proud of is just the culture. It’s a close-knit group and I think the thing that Noah brings is just a level of excitement. He’s just got contagious energy. Anybody that’s spent five minutes around him can see that. I remember being at Talladega one time and seeing a guy going down the boulevard on a scooter. I’m like, ‘Who is that guy?’ That’s Noah Gragson. He’s just one of those, for whatever reason people just relate to him and he relates well with them.”

AS YOU LOOK AT GOALS OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS, WHERE DO YOU SEE THIS TEAM GOING? “Without knowing exactly who is going to be driving our third car it’s hard for me to say everything, but I think this is what you can expect. I think you’re gonna have three young but experienced drivers that their youthful but they’ve gotten that first couple of years out of the way. I think people will look at Front Row Motorsports and say, ‘This is a team that could be together for a long time.’ So, the thing I’m most excited about with Noah is that he’s not even really hit his ceiling. He’s still growing in this sport and getting better every week and I’m just excited to see where it goes.”

• In 12 NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) starts at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Spire Motorsports has logged one top-20 and three top-25 finishes. Corey LaJoie, driver of the No. 7 Gainbridge Chevy Camaro, earned a team/venue-best 19th-place finish in the division’s 2022 visit to the “Tricky Triangle.” Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the NCS with LaJoie, Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar, respectively.
• The Great American Getaway 400 from Pocono Raceway will be televised live on USA Network, Sunday, July 14, beginning at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The 21st of 36 races on the 2024 NCS schedule will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Corey LaJoie – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Corey LaJoie heads to Pocono Raceway behind the wheel of the No. 7 Parity in Paris Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
• Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 will mark LaJoie’s 12th Cup Series start at Pocono Raceway and 257th career start. In 11 previous NCS starts at the uniquely-configured, three-turn racecourse, he has logged one top-20 and three top-25 finishes including a venue best 19th-place finish. Over those 11 starts, the Concord, N.C., native has led five laps, recorded a 27.7 average start, a 27.5 average finish and completed 1,493 of 1,667 laps contested (89.6 percent).
• This weekend, the No. 7 Chevy will showcase a one-of-a-kind Parity in Paris paint scheme to highlight the 75-plus members of the Parity community who have qualified for the Olympics and Paralympics this summer, while also celebrating the fact that Paris will be the first summer Olympics to feature equal numbers of male and female athletes. Gainbridge®, a Group 1001 company, along with its sister company Parity, a brand sponsorship platform, are committed to closing the gender income and opportunity gap in professional sports.
• The 32-year-old started 12th and finished 27th in the division’s lone 2023 stop at Pocono Raceway last July.
• LaJoie started 20th and finished 27th in last weekend’s Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course. The 32-year-old, father of three has led 38 laps in 2024 and is currently 31st in points.
• Over 256 career NCS starts, LaJoie has earned four top-five and nine top-10 finishes and led 161 laps in NASCAR’s premier division.

Corey LaJoie Quotes
What are your thoughts heading to Pocono in the final push before the break?
“Pocono is one of the most unique tracks in the world and a great weekend on the schedule. We’ve had some good runs there in past years, but our results haven’t matched our speed the last few trips. We will change that this weekend. The next two weeks are very similar in character, so we’ll also use this weekend as an opportunity to tune in our Brickyard package.”

Zane Smith – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Zane Smith will make his first NASCAR Cup Series appearance at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, driving the No. 71 Focused Health Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports.
• Smith arrives at Pocono after finishing 17th in Sunday’s Cup Series race on the streets of Downtown Chicago.
• While he’s never raced at Pocono in a Cup car, the rookie driver owns four starts at “The Tricky Triangle” in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. His record includes a start from the pole position (2022), 44 laps led, and one top-10 finish.
• Smith will drive the No. 91 Chevrolet Silverado in Friday afternoon’s truck series race. It marks the 2022 truck series champion’s fifth race this year with the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing team. He finished in the top-10 in all four races and led 38 laps.
• Focused Health is a national health insurance agency that assists consumers and employers in navigating the myriad of health insurance options in the government programs space. The company partners with payors and employers to deliver health insurance solutions for individuals and families. For more information visit AtFocusedHealth.com.
• Fans can visit Smith for a Q&A at the Chevrolet Fanzone Display on Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

Zane Smith Quotes
Back-to-back solid weekends for you and your team. Can you say that the momentum is building.
“I think the momentum is building. We have been competing up front the last two weeks, even leading a few laps last weekend in Chicago. It’s crazy how much cleaner the air is up front. My No. 71 Spire Motorsports team has been working hard every day in the shop and at the track, so it feels good to be able to show what we are capable of. Chicago was a super cool event but I’m looking forward to this weekend. I’ve never raced the cup car at Pocono but have had some success in the truck series there. It definitely fits its nickname, it’s a tricky track.”

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

• Carson Hocevar will make his first NCS start at Pocono Raceway in Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 behind the wheel of the No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports.
• Hocevar started 13th and finished 24th in last Sunday’s Grant Park 165 on the streets of Downtown Chicago.
• In three Truck Series starts at the 2.5-mile tri-oval, Hocevar has logged a 6.7 average start and a 9.7 average finish, all while completing 100 percent of the laps contested.
• Delaware Life Insurance Company (“Delaware Life”) has made its mission to deliver pure value to its network of financial professionals with a set of tools and products that help them empower their clients to plan for retirement with confidence. Delaware Life’s focus is delivering a seamless experience that gives clients exactly what they’re looking for: the comfort of understanding, the confidence of transparency, and streamlined products without needless features. Learn more at www.delawarelife.com
• The youngest NCS driver in the field is currently 25th in the division’s championship points. Over the course of the season’s first 20 races, Hocevar has notched two top-10s and five top-15 finishes.
• Friday at 8:30 a.m., Hocevar joins the NASCAR Foundation’s Bike Build and Speediatrics Fun Day Festival. The event focuses on building bikes and promoting healthy living for children in local racing communities through interactive racing activities.
• Peter Sospenzo, mechanic on the No. 77 team, was atop the box for Jeremy Mayfield’s victory in the 2000 Pocono 500. The race would be remembered for Mayfield’s “bump and run” move on Dale Earnhardt in Turn Three on the final lap.
• Crew chief Luke Lambert has called five top-10 finishes at “The Tricky Triangle” in the NCS with drivers Ryan Newman, Daniel Hemric and Chris Buescher.

Carson Hocevar Quotes
You’ve performed well at Pocono in Truck Series competition, but it’s your first time at the track in a Cup car. How confident are you feeling heading into this weekend’s race given your previous experience at Pocono?
“Pocono is a very difficult racetrack. I’ve put in a lot of extra time with the team and will be getting in last minute simulator time right up until I fly out. It’s nice because we have similar set ups for Indianapolis, so the goal the next two weeks is to run really well. We can go into Pocono this weekend with a mindset to do well, but to also learn a lot for the following week.”
In the five races leading up to Chicago, you averaged a 14th-place finishing position. Racing is a momentum sport, and with the Olympic break coming up in a couple weeks, how do you look to ride that wave of momentum into the break?

“We’ve also had the opportunity to finish in the top-10 in the last two weeks. From getting caught behind someone running out of gas, to getting caught in the middle of and incident with nowhere to go, the results do not show how fast these cars are right now. My team is doing everything right, and I am excited for luck to finally go our way, show how well we’re running and how fast these cars are.”
From the Top of the Box

Ryan Sparks – Crew Chief, No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Ryan Sparks serves in a dual role as both Spire Motorsports competition director and crew chief for driver Corey LaJoie and the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro in the NCS.
• Sparks, a Winston-Salem, N.C., native, has been paired with LaJoie since 2020.
• Combined, Sparks and LaJoie have earned four top-five and seven top-10 finishes, including a fourth-place finish in the 2024 Daytona 500.

Stephen Doran – Crew Chief, No. 71 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Stephen Doran begins his first full season as a Cup Series crew chief leading Zane Smith and the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team during the 2024 season.
• In 2006, Doran got his start in NASCAR at Petty Enterprises.
• Prior to his arrival at Spire Motorsports, Doran worked at Stewart-Haas Racing as an engineer, most recently on the No. 4 car driven by Kevin Harvick.

Luke Lambert – Crew Chief, No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Luke Lambert is the crew chief for Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 team with 2024 NCS Rookie of the Year candidate Carson Hocevar.
• The 2005 North Carolina State graduate has led the competition efforts for some of the sport’s most notable names including Jeff Burton, Ryan Newman, Elliott Sadler and Chris Buescher.
• In 2014, Lambert led Newman to a berth in the Championship 4, and ultimately a runner-up finish in the NCS championship point standings.

About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports is a NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race team co-owned by long-time NASCAR industry executives Jeff Dickerson and Thaddeus “T.J.” Puchyr. In 2024, Spire Motorsports will campaign the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the NASCAR Cup Series with drivers Corey LaJoie, Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar, respectively. The team will also field the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados full time in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. An all-star driver lineup will rotate throughout the 2024 season in the No. 7 Chevy. Rajah Caruth will drive the No. 71 entry and Chase Purdy rounds out the team’s fleet of Chevrolets in the No. 77.

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 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 Speedway. The team’s most recent win came on April 12, 2024, when Kyle Busch took the took the checkered flag in the SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway.

CLUB ENTRY LIST

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
POINT STANDINGS: 30th

ERIK JONES
POINT STANDINGS: 28th

CLUB NOTES

Pocono Raceway, also known as “Tricky Triangle”, held its first NASCAR Cup series race 50 years ago. This weekend it will host the Great American Getaway 400 on Sunday, July 14. This race will be the 21st points race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Welcome to the CLUB: LEGACY MOTOR CLUB CEO this week welcomed a long-time veteran in the motorsports industry, Bobby Kennedy as the new General Manager at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB.

JHN at Pocono: John Hunter Nemechek has amazed 10 starts at 2.5-mile raceway in his NASCAR career. His most success came in the NASCAR Truck Series which includes four top-10 finishes plus a victory in 2021. This weekend will mark the 27-year-old driver’s third Cup Series start, his first since 2020.

Jersey Swap: Last week while in Chicago, John Hunter Nemechek and the No. 42 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB team hosted two Major League Soccer players from the Chicago Fire FC, Andrew Gutman and Chase Gasper. The two organizations share a partner with Carvana. During Sunday, the three-athletes participated in a jersey swap. Check out LEGACY MOTOR CLUB’s social media outlets for images.

Happy Birthday!: Happy Birthday to the No. 42 carrier, Ernest Holden who celebrates a birthday on Friday, July 12!

Erik Jones at Pocono: For the past two races at Pocono Raceway, Jones has earned top-10 finishes. Since his Pocono Cup debut in 2017, Jones has averaged a 14.25 finish. Erik Jones will drive the No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE around the 2.5-mile tri-oval on Sunday.

Elenz at Pocono: Dave Elenz has led Erik Jones around the track since 2022, but he has tackled the Tricky Triangle multiple times before, with his best finish being fourth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2021, as well as winning the pole position in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2020.

Partner Spotlight: The No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE will ride in style with vendor partners Pepsi and Frito Lay onboard this weekend at Pocono Raceway. The No. 42 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE will have Bic and Smithfield riding along.

Going for G.O.L.D.: Partners Dollar Tree and Family Dollar will honor store 12459 this weekend as a part of the company’s “Go for G.O.L.D.” (Grand Opening Look Daily) program. The Dollar Tree and Family Dollar primaries will highlight these stores on the deck lid of all three LEGACY M.C. entries throughout the race season. Store #12459 is located in Brodheadsville, PA.

CLUB QUOTES

John Hunter Nemechek, Driver of the No. 42 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE:

“You got to focus on all three corners, there’s a reason it’s called the ‘Tricky Triangle’. There are three completely different corners, and it is difficult trying to get your car to work in all three. It’s huge to have exit speed and being able to get back to throttle and carry it down the straightaways at Pocono; It kind of makes or breaks your day as far as having speed or not having speed.

“I think we know the potential is there, it’s just putting it all together, being able to bring fast cars to the race track and all of us doing our jobs. [Last weekend] was a confidence builder knowing that we can get speed out of our Toyota Camry XSE’s, it’s just a matter of how we do that and execute. We showed up with a lot of speed last weekend which was good right off the truck. I had a really solid race in the wet, in the dry, and we were able to make the most of that, however, the finish doesn’t show that but a bunch of small wins and hopefully something to build off of. “

Ben Beshore, Crew chief of the No. 42 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE:

“We will be working hard using our tools to try to make the balance consistent through the three corners. If you are loose on one end of the track and tight on the other, it puts you in a box for adjusting on the car during practice and the race. I’m optimistic that we can carry some of our momentum from last week into Pocono.”

Erik Jones, Driver of the No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE:

“I look forward to Pocono because it’s been one of my better tracks. I’ve run really well there. I feel like it’s one of those places where we’ve ran well but haven’t gotten that win but we’ve been in contention for a lot of them over the years. I get excited to go there knowing it’s been a good track, a place I’m comfortable at and a place I’ve had some good cars at, feel like I know what I need out of my car to have a good day. The three corners are very different and turn three has probably become the most important over the last handful of years and has been important for a long time – it’s kind of a technical corner. Two is kind of a flat-out corner and one is kind of a traditional corner at any race track, you can find it in a lot of places. I think it’s fun to break it up, do something completely different and have a track that challenges you as a driver but also challenges your team to find something that will be balanced in all three corners.”

Dave Elenz, Crew chief of the No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE:

“Pocono is always a challenge, because the corners are so much different. Turn one, you have a lot of speed and a lot of load. It really requires a car that turns good and has a lot of capability to get through that corner. Then you go to turn two that is fast and is a lot of commitment from the driver, but not as much load, so it’s really hard to give the driver the confidence he needs to get through the corner and stay on the gas. Then you get into three and it’s more like a short track corner where you don’t have a lot of load and its really just kind of out of the race track and hard to navigate. The challenge with that one is it leads into the longest straightaway, so you have to have the throttle down with the least amount of downforce right there. They’re pretty unique, each corner, and it’s very difficult to come up with a set up that maximizes each one of those corners to its full potential so you really have to work on your compromise and make sure your overall speed is good and know which straightaway you’re trying to set up for the most.”

PETTY 75TH ANNIVERSARY

ABOUT PETTY 75th: The 2024 season marks a significant milestone in the history of the Petty family as they have helped define stock car racing for 75 years. Their commitment to the sport and the people who make it possible – behind the wheel, under the hood, in the back office, and beyond – has shaped the growth and success of NASCAR. Their LEGACY lives on with the countless fans, drivers, technicians, and team members they touched. Throughout 2024, LEGACY M.C. will celebrate the Petty family and share countless memories with friends and fans at race tracks across the country.

On this Week in Petty History: On July 12th, 1958, Lee Petty, father of Richard Petty, won his 3rd Grand National Championship.

The King’s Hat: The King’s Hat will be located in the infield at Pocono Raceway this weekend. Be sure to check out Pocono Raceway’s social media handles for additional details.

BROADCAST INFO

POCONO RACEWAY SUNDAY, JULY 14TH @ 2:30 PM ET

ABOUT OUR PARTNERS

ABOUT DOLLAR TREE, INC.: Dollar Tree, a Fortune 200 Company, operated 16,622 stores across 48 states and five Canadian provinces as of October 28, 2023. Stores operate under the brands of Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree Canada. To learn more about the Company, visit www.DollarTree.com.

ABOUT LEGACY MOTOR CLUB: LEGACY MOTOR CLUB™ is a professional auto racing club owned by businessman and entrepreneur Maurice “Maury” J. Gallagher and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson. The CLUB competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series fielding the No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE of John Hunter Nemechek, the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE of Erik Jones, and the No. 84 limited schedule entry for Johnson. LEGACY M.C. also competes in the Extreme E Series. Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty “The King” serves as CLUB Ambassador. With a unique title signifying a nod to car clubs of past eras, LEGACY M.C. is an inclusive club for all motorsport enthusiasts to celebrate the past and future legacies of its members, while competing for wins and championships at NASCAR’s elite level. To keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and exclusive content, follow LEGACY MOTOR CLUB™ on Facebook, X, Instagram and at www.LEGACYMOTORCLUB.com.

This Week in Motorsports: July 8 – 14, 2024

· NCS/NXS/NCTS: Pocono Raceway – July 12-14

PLANO, Texas (July 10, 2024) – NASCAR returns to the “Tricky Triangle” at Pocono Raceway with all three national series in action with just two race weekends before the Olympic break.

NASCAR National Series – NCS | NXS | NCTS

Reddick lead Camry XSE in Cup Series points … Following his second-place finish in Chicago, Tyler Reddick is now the top Toyota Camry XSE in the Cup Series points, sitting in third position just 23 behind the points lead, while also currently in fifth in the Playoff points standings. Joining him inside the series points top-10 are Denny Hamlin (fourth), Martin Truex Jr. (fifth), Christopher Bell (eighth) and Ty Gibbs (ninth). Bell also continues to lead the Playoff standings heading to Pocono.

Hamlin seeks Pocono repeat … Pocono Raceway is one of Hamlin’s most successful tracks, where he holds seven career victories, a track record, including in last year’s exciting race – which he earned Toyota’s 600th NASCAR victory. A repeat victory at Pocono for the driver of the No. 11 Camry XSE would be his fourth triumph of 2024 as he looks to climb the series and Playoffs points standings. Toyota also goes for four wins in the last six races at Pocono.

Reddick top-10 streak continues … The runner-up finish for Reddick on Sunday in Chicago also extended his top-10 finishing streak to three, as well as six of the last seven races. Overall, he leads the Cup Series with 13 top-10 finishes – two more than any other driver. The California native comes to the weekend with three consecutive top-10s at Pocono too, including runner-up finishes in the last two outings at the Pennsylvania track.

Toyota drivers doing double duty at Pocono … Running both the Xfinity and Truck Series races at Pocono this weekend will be Corey Heim and Taylor Gray. Heim will pilot his full-time No. 11 Tundra TRD Pro Friday evening with TRICON Garage, followed by making his ninth Xfinity Series start this season on Saturday with Sam Hunt Racing in the No. 26 GR Supra, to which he has two consecutive top-10 finishes coming into the weekend. Gray, Heim’s Truck Series teammate, will run the No. 17 Tundra TRD Pro on Friday and the No. 19 GR Supra on Saturday for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR). Both seek their first career Xfinity Series wins.

Ryan Truex back in GR Supra … Also returning to the Xfinity Series is Ryan Truex, who will run the No. 20 GR Supra for JGR. Truex is making his first start since Portland and looks for his second victory this season after his Dover triumph in the spring. The No. 20 team also seeks their sixth win of the season, most recently triumphant at Nashville with John Hunter Nemechek.

Three Tundra TRD Pros in Playoffs … Heading to Pocono this weekend, three Tundra TRD Pro and TRICON Garage drivers find themselves inside the Truck Playoffs in Heim (second), Taylor Gray (seventh) and Tanner Gray (10th). With his four wins on the season, Heim also finds himself in first in the Playoff points standings. Their Toyota teammate, Stewart Friesen, sits right outside the Playoffs in 12th place, just 17 points behind 10th with six races remaining in the regular season.

Wright back in the No. 1 … Wexford, Pennsylvania, native, Kris Wright, is back with Team Toyota and TRICON Garage this weekend at his home track of Pocono piloting the No. 1 Tundra TRD Pro. Wright has made 46 career starts in the Truck Series, his most recent at Texas earlier this season, which was also in the No. 1. Friday will be Wright’s third career Trucks start at Pocono Raceway, his first since 2022.

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. for more than 65 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our nearly 1,500 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs more than 49,000 people in the U.S. who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of more than 34 million cars and trucks at our nine manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 10th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 28 electrified options.

Through its Driving Possibilities initiative, the Toyota USA Foundation has committed to creating innovative educational programs within, and in partnership with, historically underserved and diverse communities near the company’s U.S. operating sites.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

JOSH BERRY
Pocono Advance
No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Event Overview

● Event: The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VisitPA.com (Round 21 of 36)
● Time/Date: 2:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 14
● Location: Pocono (Pa.) Raceway
● Layout: 2.5-mile triangle
● Laps/Miles: 160 laps/400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 30 laps / Stage 2: 65 laps / Final Stage: 65 laps
● TV/Radio: USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Deep in the backwoods of Long Pond, Pennsylvania lays the three-cornered Pocono Raceway, known as “The Tricky Triangle” for its three unique corners. Josh Berry, the NASCAR Cup Series rookie points leader, will pull double duty at Pocono this weekend, competing in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race for AM Racing and Sunday’s premier event in the No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing. Sunday’s race mark’s Berry’s first in the Cup Series at Pocono, but the 33-year-old driver is all too familiar with finding speed in the Pocono Mountains in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, having claimed a pole position and a race-high 51 laps led in July 2023, a third-place finish in July 2022, and another top-10 in 2021. Last year, Berry won the opening two stages before being involved in an on-track incident on the final lap of the race that relegated him to a 24th-place finish. Berry also turned laps behind the wheel of a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series entry at Pocono in 2021, when he started 20th and finished 11th, coming up just short of what would have been his second top-10 that season.

● It was announced last Wednesday that Berry will drive the No. 21 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Wood Brothers Racing starting in 2025, taking over for Harrison Burton.

● Berry’s Sunoco Rookie of the Year points lead is by a 31-point margin ahead of second-place Carson Hocevar. With just six races left in the regular season, Berry is ranked 21st in the overall Cups Series standings, 64 markers behind the 16th-place playoff cutline.

● Rodney Childers, crew chief for the No. 4 team, has 34 starts as a shot-caller in NASCAR’s premier series at Pocono. In those races, Childers’ drivers have recorded one pole position (Kevin Harvick in July 2019), one win (Harvick in June 2020), 12 top-five finishes, 16 top-10s, an average starting position of 14.1 and an average finishing position of 13.9. More importantly is Childers’ model of consistency, with only one Pocono DNF.

● Overstock.com adorns Berry’s No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse at Pocono. The partnership amplifies the recent relaunch of Overstock.com, home of crazy good deals that offer quality and style for less. Overstock.com is for the savvy shopper who loves the thrill of the hunt and it includes product categories customers know and love, like patio furniture, home furniture and area rugs, while reintroducing jewelry, watches and health-and-beauty products.

Josh Berry, Driver of the No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Pocono Raceway is known as “The Tricky Triangle,” having three distinct corners with very different requirements for speed. Which is the most challenging and why?

“I think turn three is the most difficult because it is the last corner before the long straightaway, and getting your car turned well enough to have good drive off and carry speed down the straight is important. If there was any corner to pick to have your car set up for, it would be that one for me. But they are all different and that’s what makes that place so hard. You can’t give away too much in other corners or you will be so far back that any advantage you gain in the final turn wouldn’t outweigh the loss in the other two corners.”

In the Xfinity Series, you have shown a lot of pace and nearly won the race last year. What does it take to put a complete race together at Pocono?

“Track position is a premium at Pocono. Being able to be up front and stay up front is a priority there. which sounds cliché, but it’s true. I have had fast cars there and being able to be up front and have a good strategy that keeps your car up front keeps it in clean air and, for the most part, keeps you out of any risks that can end your day early.”

You are pulling double duty this weekend, running both the Xfinity and Cup Series races. How much does that benefit you for Sunday’s race?

“Anytime you can get behind the wheel and cut laps in a race setting is going to be helpful. Simulators can only go so far, so to be able to get track time and see how the surface evolves, what I need out of the car, and how to run lines that I think can work or develop is going to give me an advantage in how quickly I can adapt to the Cup Series car. I am excited to get to run in the Xfinity race, too, because after how last year ended for me, I am ready to try and get some redemption and go try to win.”

Now that you know you’ll be racing for the Wood Brothers next year, does that lift some of the pressure off your shoulders and let you go race without that weighing on you?

“Yeah, I think in the back of my mind, I can just go race now. My whole career has been a series of tryouts and having the ability to go out there this weekend and know that I am secure for the foreseeable future gives me a sense of freedom to just go race and have fun. Obviously, the whole No. 4 team still wants to win, and we are committed to doing that, but having my deal signed just gives me the chance to really go focus on doing my best each weekend and not having to deal with the distractions that come with trying to get a ride for next year.”

No. 4 Overstock.com Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Josh Berry

Hometown: Hendersonville, Tennessee

Crew Chief: Rodney Childers

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Car Chief: Robert “Cheddar” Smith

Hometown: Whitewater, Wisconsin

Engineer: Dax Gerringer

Hometown: Gibsonville, North Carolina

Engineer: Billy Kuebler

Hometown: Saline, Michigan

Spotter: Eddie D’Hondt

Hometown: Levittown, New York

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Daniel Coffey

Hometown: Granite Falls, North Carolina

Rear Tire Changer: Daniel Smith

Hometown: Concord, North Carolina

Tire Carrier: Mason Flynt

Hometown: High Point, North Carolina

Jack Man: Brandon Banks

Hometown: High Point, North Carolina

Fuel Man: Evan Marchal

Hometown: Westfield, Indiana

Road Crew Members

Mechanic: Tyler Trosper

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Mechanic: Chris Capaldi

Hometown: Armada, Michigan

Tire Specialist: Zac Lupien

Hometown: Pine Bluff, Arkansas

Engine Tuner: Robert Brandt

Hometown: Mobile, Alabama

Transporter Co-Driver: Jake Zierhoffer

Hometown: Billerica, Massachusetts

Transporter Co-Driver: Stephen Mitchell

Hometown: Woodville, Ohio