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Food City 500 Post-Race Report

Date: March 17, 2024
Event: Food City 500 (Round 5 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile, concrete oval)
Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps)

SHR Finish:
– Josh Berry (Started 2nd, Finished 12th / Running, completed 499 of 500 laps)
– Chase Briscoe (Started 6th, Finished 13th / Running, completed 498 of 500 laps)
– Ryan Preece (Started 25th, Finished 14th / Running, completed 498 of 500 laps)
– Noah Gragson (Started 22nd, Finished 34th / Running, completed 494 of 500 laps)

SHR Points:
– Chase Briscoe (19th with 107 points, 78 out of first)
– Josh Berry (27th with 74 points, 111 out of first)
– Noah Gragson (32nd with 56 points, 129 out of first)
– Ryan Preece (34th with 54 points, 131 out of first)

SHR Notes:
– Berry earned his first top-15 of the season and it came in his first career NASCAR Cup Series start at Bristol.
– This was Berry’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 20th, earned March 3 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
– Berry finished 10th in Stage 1 to earn one bonus point.
– Berry led twice for 25 laps – his first laps led at Bristol.
– Berry was the highest finishing rookie.
– Berry qualified second for the Food City 500, his best qualifying effort in 17 career NASCAR Cup Series starts. His previous best was 14th, earned Feb. 24 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
– Briscoe earned his third top-15 of the season and his third top-15 in four career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol.
– Briscoe’s 13th-place result equaled his previous best finish at Bristol, originally earned in September 2021.
– Preece earned his first top-15 of the season and his fourth top-15 in seven career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol.
– This was Preece’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 16th, earned Feb. 25 at Atlanta.
– Preece finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points and 10th in Stage 2 to earn one more bonus point.

Sound Bites:

“That was a good weekend. We had good speed. I was really pretty happy with the car, but obviously there were a number of issues going on and I’m really kind of speechless on that part, but I thought we did a good job managing everything. We just seemed to make some adjustments at the end that seemed to cause the (tire) cording a little bit sooner and that kind of tied our hands a little bit there toward the end. But all in all, it was a great effort. Hate that we didn’t get a top-10, but it was a positive day and, honestly with everything going on, it was a lot of fun.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 SUNNYD Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“Crazy race, by far the most bizarre race I’ve ever been a part of trying to not go hard at all trying to save your tires, and then you’d feel good and they would just go all at once – they would be blowing. It was definitely weird just how you had to run that race, a cat-and-mouse game, which I think would’ve been really fun if you didn’t have to worry about the tires blowing or coming apart. Thirteenth for us, we were definitely way better than 13th, but there at the end my tire went down and I was just trying to make it to the end without having to pit again. To be frustrated with 13th from where we were last year just as a season says a lot about where we are this year. We’ll just have to move on and continue to get better.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“I’d rather things go the way they did today than get beat by somebody with a faster car that day. Obviously, they’ve got some work to do, the (tire) wear was excessive, but we maximized our day. If we didn’t have that tire come apart there at the end, we could’ve finished maybe top-10, but it is what it is.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“We put ourselves in a box there early. We made a lot of speed on the first run, got up to 13th running the outside, then we cut a right-front down, or wore the right-front all the way down to the cords. Came down pit road, got trapped a lap down. We just didn’t execute today, especially myself, I hit the wall later in the race getting up into the marbles. There was a ton of tire rubber out there. But there are no excuses. I need to get it together for the Bass Pro Shops team and just didn’t run a good race. I appreciate all the hard work by everyone. We’ll keep it going. It was a tough weekend, a tough result, but we’ve got to rebound next weekend.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Bass Pro Shops/Ranger Boats/Tracker Boats & ATVS Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Sunday, March 24 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

TRUEWERK Partners With Stewart-Haas Racing

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (March 14, 2024) – TRUEWERK, the direct-to-consumer performance workwear brand, has partnered with Stewart-Haas Racing, the championship-winning NASCAR team co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart and Haas Automation founder Gene Haas.

TRUEWERK is outfitting Stewart-Haas from head to toe, with team members wearing the company’s high-performance gear at the track, in the gym and in the office as the official performance workwear, apparel and uniform provider for Stewart-Haas.

TRUEWERK engineers the world’s highest-performance workwear and the company collaborated with Stewart-Haas to develop an all-new apparel collection, combining proven performers, such as the T1 WerkPants, redesigned classics like hoodies and polos, along with a new-to-market selection, specifically its S1 StormShell rain gear that saw action in the season-opening Daytona 500, which was postponed a day to due to rain.

Image“We’re proud to partner with Stewart-Haas Racing and outfit its team members in our most technically advanced uniform program to date,” said Brian Ciciora, founder and CEO, TRUEWERK. “Stewart-Haas is built from the same DNA as the TRUEWERK community – obsessed with innovation, progression and performance in everything we do. We’re thrilled to be a part of Stewart-Haas for years to come and to help them perform at the highest level.”

Stewart-Haas was in need of an apparel partner that could furnish superior workwear able to withstand the rigors its crew members endure while simultaneously providing comfort in a variety of weather conditions, all with a sharp and consistent style. For Stewart-Haas driver Ryan Preece, TRUEWERK successfully delivered the trifecta of function, comfort and style.

“From the moment I got all my TRUEWERK gear, I threw out all the other stuff I had because there was absolutely no comparison,” said Preece, who wheels the No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the NASCAR Cup Series. “I’m in their T1 WerkPants everyday – at the shop and at the track. Their T-shirts, polos, half-zips, hoodies, jackets – I’ve got them all and I wear them all. When you see me at the track, you’ll see me decked out in TRUEWERK.”

TRUEWERK will be decked out on Preece’s No. 41 Ford Mustang during the Coke Zero Sugar 400 Aug. 24 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The penultimate race of the NASCAR Cup Series’ regular season will serve as TRUEWERK’s debut as a primary sponsor, with the No. 41 TRUEWERK Ford Mustang getting prime-time exposure on NBC when the race goes green at 7:30 p.m. EDT.

“Ryan Preece embodies the ethic, teamwork and commitment to excellence that’s synonymous with the TRUEWERK community,” Ciciora said. “A mechanic at heart, Ryan understands that a crew’s skill, judgment and the honed execution creates speed on the track, just as much as driving performance. It’s his commitment to the entire program that makes us so proud to be a part of Stewart-Haas.”

Beyond the sponsorship of Preece’s No. 41 Ford, TRUEWERK secured naming rights for Stewart-Haas’ state-of-the-art campus training facility, known now as the TRUEWERK Performance Center.

NASCAR fans and industry personnel who want to experience the function, comfort and style of TRUEWERK can do so directly at TRUEWERK.com.

Food City 500 Pre-Race Report

Event Overview

Event: Food City 500 (Round 5 of 36)

Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, March 17

Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway

Layout: .533-mile, concrete oval

Laps/Miles: 500 laps/266.5 miles

Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 125 laps / Stage 2: 125 laps / Final Stage: 250 laps

TV/Radio: FOX / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

 

SHR Fast Facts: 

– Chase Briscoe enters the high banks of Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on a high after scoring his highest finish of the season last Sunday at Phoenix Raceway. Briscoe wheeled his No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse to a strong ninth-place drive in the 312-lap race around the 1-mile desert oval, putting the Mitchell, Indiana, native at .500 for the year when it comes to top-10 finishes. Briscoe scored a 10th-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500 and, four races into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, Briscoe is 19th in the championship standings.

– Josh Berry heads to his home state this weekend for Sunday’s 500-mile race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. It will be the NASCAR Cup Series debut on the high-banked, .533-mile oval’s concrete surface for the native of Hendersonville, Tennessee, located some 295 south and west of Bristol on the outskirts of Nashville. Berry does have one Cup Series start at Bristol, albeit in last year’s April race subbing for an injured Chase Elliott when the concrete surface was covered with dirt.

– Sunday’s Food City 500 returns to the concrete of Bristol Motor Speedway and Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing, is poised for a breakthrough performance on the half-mile, high-banked oval in Eastern Tennessee. Preece has competed in three different racing divisions at Bristol – the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour – for a total of 17 starts and 4,877 laps, or the equivalent of 2,600 miles, roughly the same distance between Preece’s hometown of Berlin, Connecticut, and Phoenix Raceway, site of last Sunday’s Cup Series race.

– With three finishes of 12th or better in the four NASCAR Cup Series races run this season, Noah Gragson is rolling. The driver of the No. 10 Bass Pro Shops/Ranger Boats/Tracker Boats & ATVS Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing has an average finish of 15.8, with his only blemish being a 36th-place result in the year’s second race at Atlanta Motor Speedway when he was collected in a multicar accident on just the second lap. In his 39 career Cup Series starts prior to this season, Gragson has never had such a stretch of front-running consistency. Now, the 25-year-old Las Vegas native turns his attention to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, site of Sunday’s Food City 500, where he will make his first Cup Series start on the concrete-clad, .533-mile oval.

OUR WEEKLY WRAPS

WHAT OUR DRIVERS ARE SAYING:

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Are you happy to see the spring Bristol race return to concrete, or are you one of the guys who enjoyed the dirt race?

“I’m all about just going to Bristol, in general, but I definitely loved the dirt race. I feel like the Cup Series needs to have at least one dirt race. Truthfully, the first year was not the greatest race, but the last two years I thought was a really, really good race. I was kind of bummed to see it leave. That was obviously a race I always looked forward to and one that felt like I could go to and run up front at every year we did it. It’s kind of bittersweet getting rid of it, but at the same time, Bristol on the concrete is always one of the more fun races on the schedule. Maybe one day we can go back to dirt racing, but, yeah, I’m definitely going to miss it. ”

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

You’re heading to Bristol Motor Speedway in your home state of Tennessee, and you have a deep history in short-track racing. Do you feel any kind of pressure as one of the drivers to watch this weekend?

“Bristol is a short track but it’s its own animal. It’s unique in how it races when compared to a Martinsville or Richmond layout. I think for us, we are going to keep preparing the same way we have each week. We try to prepare for as many scenarios as we can each week no matter the track. I think if we qualify well and have a clean day on pit road, the finishes will come and that’s all we can really do at this point.”

Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Do you feel that Bristol is one of the best opportunities for you and the team to potentially capitalize on with a strong finishing position, based on your past success at the track?

“It’s certainly been a track that has been good to me. It’s one of the stronger racetracks that we go to, so the confidence is pretty high. We’re building toward being consistent, and hopefully we can show up and have that speed.”

Noah Gragson, Driver of the No. 10 Bass Pro Shops/Ranger Boats/Tracker Boats & ATVs Ford Mustang Dark Horse

You’ve never raced a Cup car on the concrete at Bristol, so you’re a Cup rookie in regard to Cup racing at Bristol. How challenging is that and what have you been doing to prepare for it?

“I’ve spent a lot of time in the sim getting ready for Bristol. I like that track a lot. I feel like I know where I need to be around that track, at least in an Xfinity car and a Truck. Going there in a Cup car, it’s going to take constant learning and being aware all day and seeing how we can improve from the start of practice, qualifying, the race, and then, hopefully, when we go back there for the night race in the fall we can be even better and fire off with more confidence. But we’re going into it pretty open-minded right now.”

Shriners Children’s 500k Post-Race Report

STEWART-HAAS RACING

Shriners Children’s 500k

Date: March 10, 2024

Event: Shriners Children’s 500k (Round 4 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Phoenix Raceway (1-mile oval)

Format: 312 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/125 laps/127 laps)

SHR Finish:
– Chase Briscoe (Started 8th, Finished 9th / Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
– Noah Gragson (Started 7th, Finished 12th / Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
– Ryan Preece (Started 27th, Finished 23rd / Running, completed 311 of 312 laps)
– Josh Berry (Started 36th, Finished 26th / Running, completed 310 of 312 laps)

SHR Points:
– Chase Briscoe (19th with 83 points, 68 out of first)
– Noah Gragson (26th with 53 points, 98 out of first)
– Josh Berry (31st with 48 points, 103 out of first)
– Ryan Preece (35th with 28 points, 123 out of first)

SHR Notes:
– Briscoe earned his second top-10 of the season and his fourth top-10 in seven career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix.
– This was Briscoe’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 10th, earned in the season-opening Daytona 500.
– Briscoe finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points.
– Gragson earned his third top-12 of the season and his first top-12 in two career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix.
– Gragson’s 12th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Phoenix – 29th, earned last March.
– Gragson finished eighth in Stage 2 to earn three bonus points.

Sound Bites:

“It was a good day for us to finish in the top-10 because there were parts where we were 20th on back there. I’m happy with how we finished. We had good speed all weekend. We have stuff that we can clean up to keep more up front the whole race. The package, honestly, I thought the package was better, but the tires were an issue. The tires are so good that I think if you put this package on the right tire it would be better, for sure. We still have work to do. It was hard to pass. We were all kind of the same speed and I feel like it just comes down to the tire.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“I thought that was a lot of fun. Our SERVPRO guys did a great job. We had really fast pit stops. It is easy to Monday-Morning Quarterback it, but I have a lot of faith in Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) and the rest of these guys. They’ve been really good for me in building my confidence. We are a tight group and I have these guys’ backs. Looking back, we probably should’ve taken two tires because those guys finished up there, but we’ll keep going and keep learning, every race, every weekend. It’s still early. It’s the fourth race. We ran inside the top-10 for most of the day and it’s kind of a bummer, but it’s exciting to be good and to be disappointed with a 12th-place finish. That’s exciting for our team. We want to keep it going.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 SERVPRO Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“On days like today, I think you just take away more laps and experience on restarts and on pit road and all that stuff. But we definitely struggled today, on some runs more than others. But just a lot to look at and learn from so we can be better when we come back.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 SUNNYD Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Food City 500 on Sunday, March 17 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Shriners Children’s 500k Pre-Race Report

NASCAR CUP SERIES  OVERVIEW

Event: Shriners Children’s 500k (Round 4 of 36)

Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, March 10

Location: Phoenix Raceway

Layout: 1-mile oval

Laps/Miles: 312 laps/312 miles (502 kilometers)

Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 60 laps / Stage 2: 125 laps / Final Stage: 127 laps

TV/Radio: FOX / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

 

SHR FAST FACTS

Josh Berry:

Josh Berry takes on the second leg of the West Coast swing Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, where he’ll be bringing back the bright colors of SUNNYD to his No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing for his second career NASCAR Cup Series start at the desert mile oval. The 33-year-old rookie has five NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Phoenix, which resulted in one top-five finish, three top-10s, an average starting position of 9.6 and an average finishing position of 13.2. He finished outside the top-15 just once in Xfinity Series competition at Phoenix. His lone Cup Series start came last March, when he was subbing for an injured Chase Elliott. He started that race 17th and finished 10th.

Noah Gragson:

From the ashes of a 36th-place finish in the second NASCAR Cup Series race of the year at Atlanta Motor Speedway that nullified a strong ninth-place drive from the season-opening Daytona 500, Noah Gragson rose like a Phoenix last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 10 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing scratched and clawed his way from 30th on the grid to finish an impressive sixth at the end of the 267-lap race. It was his first step out of the points hole that left him last in the championship standings after Atlanta. Gragson’s Las Vegas exploits allowed him to climb eight spots in points to 34th heading into this weekend’s Shriners Children’s 500k at Phoenix Raceway.

Chase Briscoe:

Briscoe’s best result at Phoenix is the best kind of result – a victory, and it wasn’t just any victory. In his 40th career NASCAR Cup Series start and just his third at Phoenix, Briscoe held off Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain and the all-time winningest driver in NASCAR history at Phoenix, Kevin Harvick, to win his first Cup Series race. Briscoe had earned the right to fight for the win even before some late-race teeth gnashing brought on by a green-white-checkered finish. Briscoe started sixth and led three times for 101 laps before taking the checkered flag with a .771 of a second margin over runner-up Chastain. In addition to the triumph being Briscoe’s maiden Cup Series win, the native of Mitchell, Indiana, also became the 200th different race winner in Cup Series history.

Ryan Preece:

Ryan Preece and his NASCAR Cup Series counterparts head to Phoenix Raceway this weekend for the Shriners Children’s 500k NASCAR Cup Series race. Sunday’s 312-lap contest around the 1-mile oval debuts a new short-track rules package, as Preece’s No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing will be outfitted with a simplified rear diffuser and a higher rear spoiler compared to last year’s specifications. The aim is to put more of the race in the driver’s hands, where nuanced throttle control will be key to maintaining grip and managing tire wear. The updated package is a welcome one for Preece, who honed these exact traits on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour – NASCAR’s oldest division and the only open-wheel series sanctioned by NASCAR. Preece won the Tour championship in 2013 and properly leveraged that title and his 26 Tour victories into additional opportunities across NASCAR’s top-three national touring series – Craftsman Truck, Xfinity and Cup.

OUR WEEKLY WRAPS:

WHAT OUR DRIVERS ARE SAYING:

Josh Berry, No. 4 SUNNYD® Ford Mustang Dark Horse

The restarts at Phoenix can get a little crazy – how do you manage your level of aggression and your positioning on the track, especially late in the race?

“It’s hard and so much can happen that is out of your control. The biggest thing for me is to study those restarts and see which moves are good and which aren’t. Not every restart is going to be perfect, especially if you’re in the pack, but it’s just important to have the right mentality about making those moves and also keeping your car clean, especially early in the race.”​

Noah Gragson, No. 10 SERVPRO Ford Mustang Dark Horse

You only have one NASCAR Cup Series start at Phoenix, but you still have plenty of experience there with eight Xfinity Series starts, three Truck Series starts and one K&N West start. Talk about your career progression at Phoenix – how you’ve learned and developed overall, and what you’ve learned by making laps at that track.

“I first started going there in 2015 for the K&N West championship race. Didn’t run great there, thought I hated the place, and then ran pretty good in the Trucks, and didn’t run too good there in Xfinity, but started running really good and ended up winning a race there in Xfinity and got a lot of second-place finishes, third-place finishes there. The Cup Series race was really bad there last year. Looking forward to how the No. 10 SERVPRO Ford Mustang drives there at Phoenix. It’s a fun track, it’s a challenging track, and it always seems like it’s different, the way the sticky stuff is sprayed down in the corners. But it always puts on a good show for the fans.”

Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

You earned your first career NASCAR Cup Series win two years ago at Phoenix. Describe the race, what you did to win, and what it was like to take the checkered flag.

“It was obviously a super special day and one that I’ll certainly never forget. I remember truthfully going there that weekend not super excited. Phoenix had never been a track that I necessarily looked forward to going to. I looked at it as one of my three worst racetracks. I remember going there that weekend trying to be optimistic, but kind of knowing it could potentially be a weekend of struggle. I put a ton of work in trying to get better at Phoenix, but I still felt I had a long way to go. I remember practicing and qualifying and being extremely happy with my car and I felt like Sunday I definitely was going to be in the mix as far as a top-five goes. I didn’t necessarily feel like I had winning speed, but felt I had a car capable of being up front. I was able to slowly creep our way forward all day until we found ourselves in the lead and I just remember it not being an easy one to seal the deal. I had to hold off Chase Elliott for like 60, 70 laps, and our pit crew did an amazing job keeping us out front, and they actually got me the lead again on pit road. I remember having a restart with, I want to say 18 or so to go, and starting on the front row with Kevin Harvick at Phoenix going for the win, which was really cool to go heads-up against not only my teammate, but also a guy who had done it all there. It was just a really cool day, and I felt like I definitely had to go and earn it. I think we had a restart with four or five to go, too, and it was me and Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick and we were all going for our first win at the time. It was a really hard one to win and one of those races where you really had to keep your elbows up and just a really cool day overall.”

Ryan Preece, No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Phoenix isn’t necessarily a short track as it’s a mile in length, but it features qualities that are similar with its minimal banking and relatively flat straights. What approach are you and the team taking into this race?

“I feel like last year, our strength as a company was at the short tracks. Phoenix falls under that category to us. In the last race at Phoenix, I felt like we had a top-15 car. My hope for this year, with the improvements that have been made, is that we can continue to take steps forward and consistently be where we want to be on performance. We’re excited for the short tracks coming up and want to kick off the first one by running a clean race with a car that is able to do everything right.” 

Las Vegas 400 Post-Race Report

 

Date: March 3, 2024

Event: Las Vegas 400 (Round 3 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)

Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/85 laps/102 laps)

 

SHR Finish:
– Noah Gragson (Started 30th, Finished 6th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
– Josh Berry (Started 26th, Finished 20th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
– Chase Briscoe (Started 6th, Finished 21st / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
– Ryan Preece (Started 36th, Finished 23rd / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)

 

SHR Points:
– Chase Briscoe (20th with 53 points, 65 out of first)
– Josh Berry (30th with 37 points, 81 out of first)
– Noah Gragson (34th with 25 points, 93 out of first)
– Ryan Preece (36th with 14 points, 104 out of first)

 

SHR Notes:
– Gragson earned his second top-10 of the season and his first top-10 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Las Vegas.
– This was Gragson’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was ninth, earned in the season-opening Daytona 500.
– Gragson’s sixth-place result bettered his previous best finish at Las Vegas  11th, earned in October 2022.
– This was Berry’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 25th, earned in the season-opening Daytona 500.
– Berry’s 20th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Las Vegas – 29th, earned last March.
– Briscoe led one lap, increasing his laps-led total at Las Vegas to seven.

 

Sound Bites:

“These guys are good. It feels good to do it in front of the hometown crowd. I was battling Ty (Gibbs) and Ross (Chastain) there at the end for a top-five. I really wanted a top-five, but coming from 30th to sixth, I’m just really proud of everyone’s effort. This Mustang Dark Horse is bitchin’. It’s fast and it’s been really good. This compared to last year just has a lot more speed. You can go where you want. We’ve got a good pit crew and just a good team. We’re going to take this and get back into the positives in points and just keep on working, keep on learning and becoming better than we were yesterday and just keep that attitude. I think we’ve got the tightest group in the garage. They’re awesome to work with and I love every one of them.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Fanttik Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“I think we saw a lot of potential with the new (Ford Mustang Dark Horse) body style. Definitely each run it seemed like as a company, one of our cars was stronger than the other. But we learned a lot and our car definitely had some speed. We’ve just got to work on fine-tuning it and I need to work on starting just a little bit closer to the front, and all of those things start to compound and we have a little bit better of a day. But overall I thought we were solid.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1/Take 5 Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“Before (the contact with Ryan Blaney), I thought our car was pretty good. We weren’t good enough to win, I didn’t think, but we were definitely a fifth- to 10th-place car fairly easily. I was able to pass a lot of cars. That second run of the race, we kind of went backward, but after that we were able to continue to go forward and I was really happy with the way my car was driving. After the contact, as soon as it happened, I went into the next corner and we were a half a second slower that lap and just continued to stay a half a second slower than we had been for the rest of the race. Kind of head-scratching, not really sure what happened as far as why we lost a half a second. Definitely a tough one to swallow when we had that good of a car – we definitely had a top-10 car and ended up finishing 21st. That part’s kind of frustrating, but we’re going to Phoenix where we’ve had speed in the past and see if we can just get a better run.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“We just did what we could with what we had for the day. Without practice, really, what we had was really what it was going to be. That’s that.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Shriners Children’s 500k on Sunday, March 10 at Phoenix Raceway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Las Vegas 400 Pre-Race Report

NASCAR CUP SERIES OVERVIEW

Event: Las Vegas 400 (Round 3 of 36)

Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EST on Sunday, March 3

Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Layout: 1.5-mile oval

Laps/Miles: 267 laps/400.5 miles

Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 85 laps / Final Stage: 102 laps

TV/Radio: FOX / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

SHR FAST FACTS

Josh Berry:

Josh Berry heads west to the Nevada Desert to take on the first true intermediate track on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule for Sunday’s Las Vegas 400. The 33-year-old Cup Series rookie is no stranger to speed at the 1.5-mile oval, hitting the jackpot and visiting victory lane twice in his six NASCAR Xfinity Series starts there. In September 2021, Berry started 15th, led 38 circuits, and took the checkered flag 4.398 seconds ahead of runner-up Justin Algaier. Berry’s second victory came in October 2021, when he started 12th, led 65 laps and beat now-Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) Cup Series teammate Noah Gragson by 1.125 seconds.

Noah Gragson: 

Noah Gragson is a Las Vegas native and the Las Vegas 400 NASCAR Cup Series race this Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway serves as a homecoming for the 25-year-old racer. After beginning his 2024 campaign with a strong ninth-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, where he was the highest-finishing Ford driver, Gragson is seeking a rebound at Las Vegas. In the series’ prior race last Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Gragson was caught up in a 16-car accident on just the second lap of the 260-lap contest, leaving him with an undeserved 36th-place finish and dropping the Stewart-Haas Racing pilot from 15th in the championship standings to 27th.

Chase Briscoe:

After finishing 10th in the season-opening Daytona 500, Chase Briscoe had momentum rolling into the year’s second race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver was on the cusp of his second career NASCAR Cup Series win last Sunday at Atlanta, consistently running among the top-five, oftentimes running side-by-side for the lead. But Briscoe’s bid for victory came undone 21 laps short of the finish when a struggling racecar ahead of him bunched up the cars around Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford Mustang, sending Briscoe spinning into the outside retaining wall. After qualifying ninth and running strong throughout the race, Briscoe was left with just a 31st-place finish.

Ryan Preece:

Preece overcame an incident-filled race during last Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway to bring home a 16th-place finish, exceeding his previous best Atlanta finish of 24th achieved last July. In a display of resilience reminiscent of his performance in the season-opening Daytona 500, Preece confronted early adversity once again. He was collected in a multicar incident on just the second lap, emerging with significant damage to the nose of his racecar. Preece pitted for repairs and returned to the race and soldiered to the finish, avoiding numerous accidents along the way to score the best result for Stewart-Haas.

Our Weekly Wraps:

WHAT OUR DRIVERS ARE SAYING:

Josh Berry, Driver of the No. 4 Mobil1/Take 5 Ford Mustang

Since you’ve raced in the NextGen car and the Xfinity car at Las Vegas in the same weekend, can you talk about the difference in the level of competition between the two series?

“The Xfinity car just handles different than the NextGen Cup cars, and the competition is a lot tighter. You have the best of the best racing every weekend and that is something that is an adjustment. These guys are really good at what they do, and we all have a spot at NASCAR’s top series for a reason, so adjusting to that is also something that will take time to get used to.”

Noah Gragson, Driver of the No. 10 Fanttik Ford Mustang

What does it mean to race in your hometown of Las Vegas?

“It’s exciting to go back to Vegas. It feels different. For me, it’s always been special and I feel like it’s a different special because it’s home for me. I probably don’t get excited about the things that other people who aren’t from there get excited about just because it’s normal, but I get excited just because I get a ton of support from the hometown crowd and a lot of friends and family come out to the race. I try to go out there a couple of days ahead of time and spend time with my friends and family before it’s time to get to work. And I enjoy the Vegas track, regardless of it being in Vegas, and have always run well there, which is a good thing. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to get to our true test of where we’re at in speed on the kind of track that we’re going to race on the majority of the year.”

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang

Will Las Vegas be the first true test as to where teams stack up in relation to one another?

“For sure. Vegas is going to be where you finally figure out, not only as a manufacturer but certainly as a race team, where you’re going to stack up for the next couple of months and where you’ve got to get better. I would say Vegas is certainly the racetrack where 90 percent of the garage has circled as the one they’re most looking forward to in order to see if what they did in the offseason will come to fruition.”

Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang

What does it take to have a good day at Las Vegas?

“Speed. You can’t drive a slow car fast. That’s something that I feel like we’ve all been working toward by communicating with the crew chiefs about what we need out of the car, and the crew chiefs communicating to the aero department on what we need in order to optimize everything to get the car to go faster on mile-and-a-half tracks. This is what the two-and-half months of work during the off-season has been building toward. When we left Phoenix last year and began working toward 2024, we circled all the mile-and-a-half tracks and said, ‘If we’re going to compete this year, we need to be better here.’”

 

Ambetter Health 400 Post-Race Report

Date: Feb. 25, 2024

Event: Ambetter Health 400 (Round 2 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia (1.54-mile oval)

Format: 260 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/100 laps/100 laps)

SHR Finish:
– Ryan Preece (Started 20th, Finished 16th / Running, completed 260 of 260 laps)
– Josh Berry (Started 14th, Finished 29th / Accident, completed 250 of 260 laps)
– Chase Briscoe (Started 9th, Finished 31st / Accident, completed 239 of 260 laps)
– Noah Gragson (Started 15th, Finished 36th / Accident, completed 66 of 260 laps)

SHR Points:
– Chase Briscoe (22nd with 37 points, 40 out of first)
– Ryan Preece (24th with 35 points, 42 out of first)
– Noah Gragson (27th with 29 points, 48 out of first)
– Josh Berry (31st with 20 points, 57 out of first)

SHR Notes:
– This was Preece’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 23rd, earned in the season-opening Daytona 500.
– Preece’s 16th-place finish bettered his previous best finish at Atlanta – 24th, earned last July.
– Briscoe finished ninth in Stage 2 to earn two bonus points.

Sound Bites:

“Our day was ruined right from the start, so to really end up 16th is a gift. For the half a lap that I felt like my car made it through, it felt like it was going to be really fast, so it gives me a lot of hope moving toward Vegas next week.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang

“The guys did a really good job to get us back in position. We obviously made some mistakes there and have to clean that up, but the car was kind of weird. It was really strong on the bottom but struggled on the top. There were several times I got put in a bad spot in the third lane and kind of had a moment there, and ultimately that’s what did us in at the end. I was trying to stay out of the top lane. I kind of got forced up there and I just got loose and unfortunately wrecked. I’m glad we battled back and raced well and got back in position, but unfortunately we didn’t finish.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Harrison’s Ford Mustang

“I got put in a bad spot down the back straightaway. Somebody was on my right-rear and it kind of shuffled me to the left. I think we were three- or four-wide and it felt like somebody hit me in the left-rear getting into (turn) three, but I could’ve just gotten loose from the air, I’m not really sure. It sucks with how good our car was. We were able to be up front all day and be super aggressive making moves. I thought we were going to be in a really good spot there, but that’s part of it when you’re racing that tight and everybody is going for it at the end. We were just on the unfortunate side of it today. (The racing) was fun. That was the most fun I’ve ever had here, and I think some of that is just our guys did a really good job of bringing a car that we could be aggressive with and make moves. I’m actually looking forward to coming back here. That was a lot of fun. Guys were just making huge moves and big runs, but we were able to not get close to crashing a lot of times, like we would at Daytona or Talladega. I had a lot of fun. I wish our finish would’ve reflected how good we were today, but we’ll go on to Las Vegas and see if we can improve on it. I don’t know if it’s just the speed feels a little bit slower here or what, but I think, for us, our car was just extremely good. I definitely saw a lot of other guys struggling. I felt like we had easily a top-five car out there. I’m sure my opinion is probably a little bit different than others just because of how easy our car drove, and that’s the part that stings the most, I would say, knowing how good our car was and we don’t get the finish to show that.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang

“It’s definitely a bummer. They started stacking up on the top and I thought we were going to miss the 3 (Austin Dillon) and then got tagged in the right-rear by someone. I just got hit from behind and the car was pretty torn up. We tried to keep it going, but then the rack started falling out of it, so we started losing steering and had to bring it in. It’s just a bummer, but we’re going to go to Vegas and rebound. There’s a lot of fight in these guys with the Ranger Boats team. This 10 group is really tight together and I’m grateful to be a part of it. It still sucks not being able to collect points. We were looking to have a good day, and to only really get one lap in at speed and then we’re limping around with a wrecked racecar for the next 60 laps, so that was a bummer. Overall, I’m just really grateful. This kind of hurts us in the points. I know it’s still early, but the way the qualifying and practice algorithm goes, being higher up in the points is really beneficial, so it’s definitely a bummer. But we’re going to keep our heads down and keep working hard.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Black Rifle Coffee/Ranger Boats Ford Mustang

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Las Vegas 400 on Sunday, March 3 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

2024 Daytona 500 Post-Race Report

Date: Feb. 19, 2024
Event: 66th Running of the Daytona 500 (Round 1 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (2.5-mile oval)
Format: 200 laps, broken into three stages (65 laps/65 laps/70 laps)

SHR Finish:
– Noah Gragson (Started 38th, Finished 9th / Running, completed 200 of 200 laps)
– Chase Briscoe (Started 20th, Finished 10th / Running, completed 200 of 200 laps)
– Ryan Preece (Started 25th, Finished 23rd / Running, completed 199 of 200 laps)
– Josh Berry (Started 30th, Finished 25th / Running, completed 199 of 200 laps)

SHR Points:
– Chase Briscoe (13th with 29 points)
– Noah Gragson (15th with 28 points)
– Ryan Preece (25th with 14 points)
– Josh Berry (26th with 12 points)

SHR Notes:
– Gragson earned his second top-10 in four career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Daytona.
– This was Gragson’s third career start in the Daytona 500 and it resulted in his best Daytona 500 finish. His previous best result in The Great American Race was 24th, earned last year.
– Gragson led once for five laps – his first laps led at Daytona.
-Briscoe earned his second top-10 in seven career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Daytona.
– This was Briscoe’s fourth career start in the Daytona 500. His best Daytona 500 finish remains third, earned in 2022.
– This was Preece’s fifth career start in the Daytona 500. His best Daytona 500 finish remains sixth, earned in 2021.
– This was Berry’s first career start in the Daytona 500, but his second career NASCAR Cup Series start at Daytona. He finished 22nd in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 last August.
– Berry led one lap to score his first lap led at Daytona.

Sound Bites:

“We led some laps early, but we came down there at the end to fix some damage right before the final restart. We didn’t have a whole lot of area to go, but I guess it’s better than being wrecked. Overall, we’ll take a top-10. We kind of got pinned on the bottom and didn’t have a lot of room to go and then the race ended. I feel so good being behind the wheel. This whole Stewart-Haas team did a great job, especially getting the backup car going.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Black Rifle Coffee/Ranger Boats Ford Mustang

“Anytime you can finish this race in one piece is nice. It was hard to get track position. It seemed like wherever you kind of fell in after two or three laps of green-flag pit stops, you just kind of ran there the whole time. That was a weird race. It seems like every time we run these superspeedways it turns into more and more of a fuel-mileage race. I thought we would be OK there at the end and we had to start 12th or 13th on the restart and it was hard to do anything. We were all kind of bottled up. Coming out of here with a 10th-place finish and missing the wrecks and not being in a huge points whole is nice. We have to play the same game next week at Atlanta and, hopefully, we can do it again, but a couple of spots better.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang

“Speeding on pit road screwed us, and then ending it was not getting the Lucky Dog when we should’ve gotten the Lucky Dog. I felt like we earned our right with seven to go to get the Lucky Dog and to at least compete for a top-five or a top-10, or put ourselves in position there, but we had it taken away for no reason. Frustrated is definitely the word right now.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang

“I feel like I learned a lot and raced well. There were a couple moves I wish I could have back maybe here or there but, overall, I was pretty happy we could work toward the front and maintain it. I thought the car was really good. I just hate we got turned on pit road. That got us behind. We were able to get in the Lucky Dog position but it just didn’t work out there at the end. Overall, it was a good night to learn. I just hate we didn’t get the finish we deserved.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 SUNNYD Ford Mustang

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Ambetter Health 400 on Sunday, Feb. 25 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Caymus Vineyards Renews Partnership With Stewart-Haas

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 16, 2024) – Iconic wine producer Caymus Vineyards has renewed its partnership with Stewart-Haas Racing, the championship-winning NASCAR team co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart and Haas Automation founder Gene Haas.

After serving as an associate partner last year, the family-owned and operated winery has expanded its role with Stewart-Haas in 2024. Caymus Vineyards will have a yearlong presence on the lower-rear quarter panel of the No. 41 Ford Mustang driven by Ryan Preece, along with branding on Preece’s firesuit. Additionally, CaymusVineyards will have heightened signage on all four Stewart-Haas cars – the Nos. 4, 10, 14 and 41 of Josh Berry, Noah Gragson, Chase Briscoe and Preece, respectively – at select NASCAR Cup Series races. And at all Cup Series races, guests of Stewart-Haas can enjoy Caymus Vineyards’ lineup of wines, most notably, its renowned Cabernet Sauvignon, at the team’s trackside VIP hospitality area.

Last June at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, guests toasted with Preece in victory lane, raising glasses of CaymusVineyards’ Bonanza Cabernet Sauvignon after he won the ARCA Menards Series West race. Preece dominated in his Bonanza Cabernet Ford Mustang by winning the pole and leading twice for a race-high 50 laps, including the final 32 tours around the 1.99-mile, 10-turn road course, securing the victory with a commanding 9.675-second margin over his nearest pursuer. It was Preece’s first ARCA win and the first race victory for Caymus Vineyards.

“We’re thrilled to continue our partnership with Stewart-Haas Racing and we’re proud to have the Caymusname grace the No. 41 Ford Mustang of Ryan Preece, who memorably put our Bonanza Cabernet car in victory lane last year at Sonoma,” said Karen Perry, Executive Vice President, Caymus Vineyards. “Much like Chuck Wagner and his family, Tony Stewart and Gene Haas have worked incredibly hard to build a championship organization. Whether it’s on the track or in the vineyards and cellar, what we have in common is a drive to be the very best through a commitment to excellence.”

Chuck Wagner and his late parents, Lorna and Charlie Sr., opened Caymus Vineyards in 1972, starting off with 240 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon. Based at its original “home ranch” in Rutherford, California – deep in the heart of Napa Valley Wine Country and just a 45-minute drive north of Sonoma Raceway – Caymus Vineyards remains a hands-on family affair. In addition to their famed Cabernet Sauvignon, Chuck, Charlie and Jenny Wagner make a range of white and red wines, each with a character all its own.

“Representing Caymus Vineyards and Bonanza last year at Sonoma allowed me to see just how hands-on the Wagner family is when it comes to their wine-making,” Preece said. “It’s impressive, and it’s something I can really appreciate. I’m hands-on with my racecars because I want them to be the very best. They have the same mindset at Caymus. That’s why they’re a great partner for our race team.”

The partnership with Stewart-Haas complements Caymus Vineyards’ portfolio of championship teams and iconic drivers the company has partnered with in the last decade. In 2024, Caymus Vineyards is also a full-season sponsor of Meyer Shank Racing driver Felix Rosenqvist in the NTT INDYCAR Series.

About Caymus Vineyards:
The Wagner Family has a long history in Napa Valley dating back to the 1850s. Through the years, they have embraced a hands-on work ethic and are constantly trying out new ideas in pursuit of making exceptional wines. Whether it’s venturing to different regions to find diverse sources of top-quality grapes or experimenting with new farming techniques, the result is a pairing of tradition with innovation, a respect for the old and the promise of the new. The Wagners’ dedication to agriculture will be celebrated in June of 2024 when the family will proudly release their 50th vintage of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

Chuck Wagner and his late parents, Lorna and Charlie, started Caymus Vineyards in 1972. They were a family of farmers who worked together for decades to create a signature style of Cabernet Sauvignon. Today, the family’s Napa Valley Cabernet and Special Selection are among Napa Valley’s most celebrated wines. Chuck now works alongside two of his children, Charlie and Jenny, and the family produces diverse wines from Napa Valley, other parts of California and beyond. Continually pursuing new ideas, they feel extremely fortunate to spend their days farming grapes and making wine. For more information, please visit us online at caymus.comor wagnerfamilyofwine.com, and on social at Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.