COLE CUSTER – 2018 Chicagoland NXS Race Report

Cole Custer Finishes Third at Chicagoland

Haas Automation Driver Takes Lead in Championship Standings

 

Date: June 30, 2018
Event: Overton’s 300 (Round 15 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Chicagoland in Joliet, Illinois (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 200 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/100 laps)
Start/Finish: 12th/3rd (Running, completed 200 of 200 laps)
Point Standing: 1st with 541 points

Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Tyler Reddick of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-45):

Custer started 12th, finished 11th.
The No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang had to go to the rear because the right-front tire was flat before the third round of qualifying.
Custer was in the top-15 by lap 10.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 46-90):

Custer started ninth, finished fourth and earned seven bonus points.
The Southern California native reported his car was just too tight center off the corner.
● He pitted on lap 48 for four tires, fuel and a tire pressure adjustment after
● Custer said the car was a little too tight firing off.

Final Stage Recap (Laps 91-200):

● Custer started sixth, finished third.
● On lap 93, Custer pitted for four tires and fuel.
● The No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Fusion was a little loose in turns one and two and a little tight in turns three and four.
● On lap 117, Custer pitted for four tires and fuel.
● On lap 155, Custer passed SHR teammate Kevin Harvick for the second position.
● On lap 168, he reported that his Haas Automation Ford was a little too loose late in the run. When he came in for fuel, four tires and a slight tire pressure adjustment, he overshot his pit stall.
● Returned to fifth with 20 laps to go and reached fourth on lap 189, passed Daniel Saurez for third on lap 191.

Notes:                   

● This marks Custer’s fifth consecutive top-five finish and sixth overall of the season and first Xfinity Series top-five at Chicagoland.
● With his third-place finish, Custer took over the lead in the championship point standings.
● The race featured 13 lead changes among seven drivers and four caution periods for a total of 21 laps.
● Only 11 of the 40 drivers finished on the lead lap.
● Kyle Larson won the Overtons’s 300 to score his 10th career Xfinity Series victory, second of the season and first at Chicagoland. His margin of victory over second-place Harvick was 8.030 seconds.

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing With Biagi-DenBeste:           

“It was a great car. All our guys on the Haas Automation Mustang did great. I just hate that I missed the box that last stop, I think that is all on me. I don’t know that we would have caught Kyle but we would have gotten one more spot. It is what it is. We will just move on.”

KEVIN HARVICK – 2018 Chicagoland NXS Race Report

Harvick Finishes Second at Chicagoland

Hunt Brothers Pizza Driver Scored Second Top-Five Finish of 2018

Date: June 30, 2018
Event: Overton’s 300 at Chicagoland (Round 15 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 200 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/110 laps)
Start/Finish: 13th/2nd (Running, completed 200 of 200 laps)

Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Tyler Reddick of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-45):

● Started 13th and finished second.
● Harvick raced his No. 98 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford from 13th place into the top five within the first five laps.
● Harvick reported that the car was handling a little tight in the center and needed help with rear grip on lap 15.
● The Hunt Brothers Pizza driver maintained the runner-up spot to the conclusion of Stage 1. He made a trip to pit road at the end of the stage for air pressure and chassis adjustments, four tires and fuel. Quick pit work allowed Harvick to exit pit road first, placing him in the lead position for the restart.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 46-90):

● Started first and finished second.
● After getting passed for the top spot at the start of Stage 2, Harvick settled into a comfortable pace in second place.
● Harvick made a bid for the lead on lap 69 but was passed by third-place driver Kyle Larson as he passed the lead car. He once again started quietly logging laps in second place, noting on lap 85 that the car started to handle on the tight side in the center of the turns during long, green-flag runs.
● The Bakersfield, California native was in second place when Stage 2 came to a close. He made a trip to pit road for another round of air pressure adjustments, four tires and fuel.

Final Stage Recap (Laps 91-200):

● Started second and finished second.
● Harvick picked up where he left off to start the final stage, running in second place. A fast racecar allowed Harvick to take over the top spot on lap 104.
● Caution waved on lap 114. Harvick reported that he still needed help with rear grip at the exit of the turns. He made a trip to pit road for adjustments, four tires and fuel. He was the first driver off pit road but because driver Chase Briscoe stayed out during the caution, the No. 98 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford was scored in second place for the restart.
● Harvick restarted second but immediately passed the leader to reassume the top spot. He maintained the top spot until getting passed by his teammate Cole Custer on lap 157.
● Green-flag pit stops started taking place on lap 165 with Harvick making his own trip to pit road on lap 167. He noted that the car was still handling on the tight side in the corners so the team made another air pressure adjustment, changed four tires and added fuel.
● Once green-flag stops cycled through, Harvick was back in second place – the position he maintained to the end of the race.

Notes:

● Harvick scored his second top-five and third top-10 finish of the season.
● Harvick led three times for a total of 38 laps.
● Harvick’s SHR teammate Cole Custer finished third.
● This was Harvick’s fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the year for Stewart-Haas Racing with Biagi-DenBeste.
● Harvick’s next appearance in the No. 98 Ford Mustang is schedule for Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on September 1.
● Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing won the Overton’s 300 at Chicagoland to score his 10th career Xfinity Series victory, his second of the season and first at Chicagoland. His margin of victory over second-place Harvick was 8.030 seconds.
● Only 11 of the 40 cars entered into the race finished on the lead lap.
● The race featured 13 lead changes among seven drivers and four caution for a total of 21 laps.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 98 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing with Biagi-DenBeste:

“I needed a short run there at the end for sure. Our Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford was really good for about 25 laps and Kyle (Larson) probably struggled for about 25 laps. We just didn’t need (the race) to go green that long. We just couldn’t run the top and I didn’t’ have enough rear grip to throttle it through the corners, but my car would turn better on the bottom so it was kind of a double-edged sword. You never know how these things work out. You kind just have to see what you can get. I just have to thank Hunt Brothers Pizza, Haas Automation, Ford and everybody who helps us out with this car.”

KEVIN HARVICK – 2018 Chicagoland NXS Race Advance

Event:             Overton’s 300
Date:               June 30, 2018
Location:         Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois
Layout:             1.5-mile oval

 

Kevin Harvick Notes of Interest

 

  • The No. 98 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing with Biagi-DenBeste (SHR) makes its eighth appearance of 2018 with Kevin Harvick making his fourth of five scheduled appearances behind the wheel. Chase Briscoe has made three starts and Aric Almirola one.
  • Hunt Brothers Pizza makes its third appearance as the primary sponsor of the No. 98 Ford with Harvick in 2018.
  • In their first race of the season Feb. 24, Harvick and the No. 98 Hunt Brothers Pizza team scored the win at Atlanta Motor Speedway after starting fifth, winning both stages, and leading a race-high 141 of 163 total laps, beating runner-up Joey Logano by 4.183 seconds.
  • Harvick has three Xfinity Series wins in 11 career starts at Chicagoland Speedway (July 2005 and 2007, and September 2014), one pole (July 2010), five top-five finishes and seven top-10s.
  • This weekend marks Harvick’s first Xfinity Series start at Chicagoland Speedway since September 2014, when he started ninth, led 43 of 200 laps and scored the victory by 2.108 seconds ahead of runner-up Kyle Larson.
  • In 344 career Xfinity Series starts, Harvick has 47 wins, 184 top-five finishes, 258 top-10s, 25 poles and 9,650 laps led.
  • Harvick will be joined in the Overton’s 300 at Chicagoland field by SHR teammate Cole Custer in the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang.

 

Kevin Harvick, Driver No. 98 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang

 

“Chicagoland Speedway is a track that we’ve had a lot of success racing at in the Xfinity Series in the past. Last time we ran there, we were able to visit victory lane. I’m expecting the track to be hot and slick, which should make for some good racing. Richard Boswell and the guys on our No. 98 Hunt Brothers Pizza team have done a great job all year and I know they’ll be ready to go for it again this weekend at Chicagoland.”

ARIC ALMIROLA – 2018 Chicagoland Race Advance

It’s back to a more traditional oval circuit for Aric Almirola and the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Fusion team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois.

Almirola’s first of two races last weekend on the road course at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway was Saturday’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race, in which he finished second. Almirola took part in the Saturday race looking to gain more road-course experience for Sunday’s main event. The extra track time in the K&N race, along with a strong Ford Fusion and solid calls by crew chief John Klausmeier, led Almirola to an eighth-place result in the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Fusion in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race. The finish marked the Tampa native’s strongest finish at a road course in his Cup Series career.

It’s been since Memorial Day weekend at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway that the Cup Series has raced on a mile-and-a-half track, the configuration that dominates the 36-race schedule. Almirola finished 13th at Charlotte and looks for another competitive weekend at Chicagoland. In his first Cup Series start at the suburban Chicago track in September 2012, he earned the outside pole position. His best finish at the track is 10th, which he earned in September 2015.

At 1.5-mile tracks this season, Almirola hasn’t finished outside of the top-13, with the exception of a 32nd-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth due to an accident. For the past seven seasons, Chicagoland Speedway has kicked off the NASCAR playoffs. However, this year the venue’s race date was moved to July, when the track hosted Cup Series races from 2001 through 2010.

In 16 Cup Series starts this year, Almirola has accrued an average start of 20.1, an average finish of 11.8, and he rounds out the SHR four-car contingent with the 10th spot in the point standings. Additionally, Almirola has had three Cup Series career-best finishes in a row – seventh at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, 11th Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, and eighth at Sonoma.

Almirola has four career Xfinity Series starts at Chicagoland, starting inside the top-10 each time, including one pole award in June 2011. The 34-year-old garnered two top-five finishes and two top-10s and led 10 laps in those four Xfinity Series starts. He also has two starts in the Camping World Truck Series at the track, both resulting in top-10 finishes.

With summer in full swing, fans have the opportunity to celebrate the grilling season by entering Smithfield’s “Hero of the Grill” contest that Almirola and five-time world-champion barbecue pitmaster Tuffy Stone helped launch earlier this year. Fans are encouraged to nominate their favorite grill hero by visiting SmithfieldGetGrilling.com. One “Hero of the Grill” nominee will win $5,000. Plus, the first 10,000 nominees will have the chance to see their name featured on Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford at Richmond (Va.) Raceway in September.

Fans can also enter for their chance to win Smithfield’s Smoke Machine Mustang designed by team co-owner Tony Stewart with the help of drifting champion Vaughn Gittin Jr. They helped create a one-of-a-kind Ford Mustang RTR Spec 3 that will be given away to one lucky fan. Fans can register for their chance to win the suped-up Mustang and a trip to November’s Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead by visiting SmithfieldRacing.com, or by texting SMOKE to 82257.

Almirola’s No. 10 Ford Fusion had a different look for May’s non-points-paying NASCAR All-Star Race. Waffle House appeared on the car to help kick off its first-ever “Who’s Your All-Star?” sweepstakes in conjunction with Smithfield Foods. Fans can enter the sweepstakes by snapping a photo with their favorite Waffle House associate and sharing via Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #WhosYourAllStar. The top-10 associates and the customers who nominated them will receive special recognition and a Waffle House gift card. One grand-prize customer and associate winner will each receive a VIP experience to the NASCAR Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November.

This weekend’s event at Chicagoland Speedway marks the 15th points-paying event during which the Smithfield livery has adorned Almirola’s No. 10 Ford Fusion. Smithfield, a brand of Smithfield Foods, which is based approximately five hours northeast of SHR headquarters in Smithfield, Virginia, is in its seventh season with Almirola and its first with SHR. Founded in 1936, Smithfield is a leading provider of high-quality pork products, with a vast product portfolio including smoked meats, hams, bacon, sausage, ribs, and a wide variety of fresh pork cuts.

Ford has earned eight wins so far this season with Almirola’s SHR teammates earning seven of the victories for the blue oval – five by Kevin Harvick and two by Clint Bowyer. Harvick also captured the non-points-paying All-Star Race win at Charlotte.

 

ARIC ALMIROLA, Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

 

How do you feel about going to Chicagoland this weekend?

“I feel like if we go there and do all of the basics right, we’ll run in the top-10. If we get it all perfect, we’ll have a shot to be in victory lane with our Smithfield Ford Fusion. At each of the last three tracks, I’ve had the best finishes of my Cup career, so I’m really on a roll and I have a strong team behind me.”

Who inspired you to race?

 “I grew up watching my grandfather race dirt cars all over the Southeast and he was really talented. I fell in love with watching him race. He retired when I was 8 years old and asked me if I wanted to try my hand at racing. I did, so he bought me a go-kart and away we went. I started racing in Florida and, after the first year, we started traveling all over the East Coast racing in the World Karting Association. I raced on dirt ovals and I just loved it. From go-kart racing, I moved up to stock cars and Late Models and had some success in every rank that I competed at. It eventually led me to moving to North Carolina and I started driving a Late Model stock car for Joe Gibbs Racing. I kind of got my foot in the door with major teams in NASCAR and was able to bounce around for a few years until I found a home at Richard Petty Motorsports to drive in the Cup Series. That opportunity parlayed into the opportunity that I have now at Stewart-Haas Racing.”

COLE CUSTER – 2018 Chicagoland NXS Race Advance

Event:               Overton’s 300 (Round 15 of 33)
Date:                 June 30, 2018
Location:          Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois
Layout:             1.5-mile oval

 

Cole Custer Notes of Interest

 

  • The Overton’s 300 will mark Cole Custer’s second career NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois.
  • Custer is striving to earn this season’s fifth consecutive top-five in the Overton’s 300. He comes into Chicagoland fresh off a fourth-place finish Sunday at Iowa Speedway in Newton.
  • Custer has earned three poles, five top-five finishes, 11 top-10s and has led 106 laps in the 2018 Xfinity Series season.
  • Custer is second in the Xfinity Series driver standings, four points behind leader Elliott Sadler.
  • In 18 career Xfinity Series starts and nine NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at 1.5-mile ovals, Custer has one win, seven top-five finishes and 16 top-10s.
  • In Custer’s first and only Xfinity Series start at Chicagoland, he led 41 laps but was shuffled to the middle of the pack before rallying for a seventh-place finish.
  • Custer’s best finish in the 14 Xfinity Series races this season is second on May 26 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
  • Custer has qualified inside the top-five in 10 of the 14 races run this season.
  • Custer will be joined by SHR teammate Kevin Harvick in the No. 98 Hunt Brothers Ford Mustang.
  • In 2017, Custer led the Xfinity Series with 422 points at 1.5-mile tracks.
  • Two weekends ago at Iowa, Custer ran as high as third place and raced inside the top-five for the majority of the race.

 

Cole Custer, Driver Q&A

 

Are you content with the team’s top-five consistency, or do you feel you’ve had the car to win every weekend?

“We go to the track to win every weekend, so I wouldn’t say we’re satisfied. We are second in the standings, though, and are happy to have some consistency lately with some top-five finishes. Consistency is key, but every driver out there wants to win every weekend.”

Would a win take some weight off your shoulders going forward in the season?

“A win would be huge for our team. I feel like we’re really close right now and it would give us some confidence for the rest of the year. It was a huge weight off of our shoulders last year at Homestead, but we feel that we should already have a few and counting.”

What is racing around Chicagoland like?

“Chicago is one of the best tracks we go to. It’s worn out, rough, and you can run all over the track. I think a lot of us look forward to going to Chicagoland because of the challenge it brings.”

 

Jeff Meendering, Crew Chief Q&A

 

The Haas Automation team has been dominant at 1.5-mile tracks. How important is it to succeed at mile-and-a-half tracks, knowing  Homestead is the winner-take-all championship race? 

“As you can see from last year, we focused heavily on our 1.5-mile program and carried the momentum and race notes to Homestead. Every time we go to a mile-and-a-half track, it is so important to run well and take every note we can because there is a championship on the line in November.”

KURT BUSCH – 2018 Chicagoland Race Advance

It’s well known that Kurt Busch is a massive Chicago Cubs fan. Despite growing up in Las Vegas, he caught many Chicago Cubs games on WGN-TV in the 1980s and 1990s.

He has connections to Chicago as his parents were born in the metro area and his grandfather lived in downtown Chicago. And his grandfather was a huge Cubs fan.

In 1984, when Busch was just 6 years old, the late Steve Goodman wrote the famous song, “Go Cubs Go,” which is played at Wrigley Field after Cubs victories.

Busch is hoping he can play “Go Kurt Go,” as he hopes to win his first-ever Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. He has two top-five finishes and nine top-10s in 17 races at the 1.5-mile oval just southwest of Chicago, but he’s yet to find victory lane.

Busch’s best finish at Chicagoland came in 2015, when he came home third. He overcame a flat tire on lap 86 and a green-flag pit stop that put him a lap down to still contend for the win. However, a late-race caution took away what appeared to be a sure win and an automatic advance into the next round of the playoffs for Busch and the No. 41 team.

The prospects for a career-best Chicagoland finish this weekend for Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), look good as he’s been fast on 1.5-mile ovals this season.

His average starting positon on the intermediate tracks has been 7.0, including a pole at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. He’s qualified in the top-eight in four of five races at 1.5-mile ovals.

Busch has also finished in the top-eight in four of the five races at 1.5-mile ovals.

While he may not be singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” on lap 200 of Sunday’s 267-lap race, Busch is hoping that, in the words of the late Cubs broadcasters Harry Carey and Jack Brickhouse, he hears either “Busch Wins!” or “Hey Hey!” once the checkered flag falls.

And then his fans can launch into a heartfelt rendition of “Go Kurt Go.”

 

KURT BUSCH, Driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

 

You have a lot of connections to Chicago. Talk about that.

“Both my mom and dad were born in the Chicagoland area. My grandfather lived downtown and was a big Chicago Cubs fan. I remember growing up and going to his house and seeing all of his Cubs stuff. And then in Vegas, where I grew up, we had WGN-TV and it was cool to be connected to the Cubs at an early age. I still have aunts and uncles in the Chicago area. The Busches moved out to Vegas in the early ’70’s. And that’s where Kyle and I were born and raised.”    

Do you look at Chicago as another hometown race? 

“It’s fun just with my affinity for Chicago. I love the town, the Chicago Cubs, the Bears. Over the years, I’ve met a lot of good people throughout the Illinois area. It does feel like a second home.”

The 1.5-mile ovals all look the same but are completely different. How is Chicagoland?

“They’re all very different. It’s all about the asphalt and grip level. It’d be very interesting to get to choose what sets of tires we all wanted to race on for grip levels. Chicago is very similar to Homestead and it’s similar to Atlanta that we run earlier in the year. Very worn-out mile-and-a-half that chews up tires, and you have to be nice to your tires.”

What have your previous races at Chicago been like for you?

 “Chicago is a fast, mile-and-a-half track I have always enjoyed racing on since I started racing there in my rookie season. The track isn’t as smooth as it used to be – it has some bumps in it – but it’s a place I like. It’s another one of those tracks, though, where I just haven’t had the best of luck. An example is the 2002 race. We had a really fast car for that race but, for some reason after the last pit stop, the car just wasn’t handling the same as it had been. We were just way too tight and really couldn’t figure out why. When we got back to the shop and started going over the car, we realized that the radiator pan had come off and that’s like 100 pounds of front downforce. We were going so fast that the car bottomed out and dragged the radiator pan out. It’s just weird stuff like that.”

KEVIN HARVICK – 2018 Chicagoland Race Advance

Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) will have a different look when he arrives at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Overton’s 400.

This weekend, it will be the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Kickin’ Ranch Ford Fusion and features a brand-new advertising campaign from the Illinois-based sandwich shop. Long known for being “Freaky Fast” and “Freaky Fresh,” Jimmy John’s is now expanding that message to celebrate the freaks who work for Jimmy John’s and their obsession with making the perfect sandwich for their customers. In fact, it’s the first time Jimmy John’s has ever changed its paint scheme in the middle of the season.

To reach Harvick’s level of success in 2018 – winning a series-best five points-paying races – it takes a freakish commitment. Harvick and the No. 4 team are freaks about winning, which makes the partnership with Jimmy John’s a perfect fit.

In addition to the new paint scheme, Jimmy John’s also just unveiled some new products for its customers, including a Kickin’ Ranch dip and a 16-inch Giant sandwich.

The Kickin’ Ranch paint scheme is part of Jimmy John’s new ad campaign, the theme of which illustrates that the company cares about things normal people do not and that is what makes its sandwiches consistently fresh, fast and healthy. It is actually the first time the new advertising campaign peels back the curtain on some of the practices that make the brand the freakiest, and best, in the business. These include: cutting lettuce into exactly 3/32-of-an-inch slices; only using fresh bread and not serving any bread that is more than four hours out of the oven; using meats that contain no added hormones, artificial ingredients or preservatives; slicing all vegetables, cheeses and meats every day in every Jimmy John’s location; and using only three ingredients for the signature Jimmy Chips – potatoes, peanut oil and salt.

The No. 4 Jimmy John’s Kickin’ Ranch Ford Fusion will feature the 16-inch Giant sandwich on the hood with the words “Freak Yeah!” above the sandwich and the words “Freaky Fast” and “Freaky Fresh” below. The rear quarterpanels will also feature Jimmy John’s, instead of its standard “Freaky Fast,” and the new Kickin’ Ranch logo.

The celebration of the new Jimmy John’s campaign starts at its home track. Jimmy John’s was founded in 1983 by then-19-year-old Jimmy John Liautaud approximately 163 miles from Chicagoland Speedway in Charleston, Illinois.

It’s also a track where Harvick and his team have had been freaky fast throughout his career. In fact, Harvick won the first two Cup Series races in Chicagoland history – scoring back-to-back wins in 2001 and 2002. In 17 Cup Series starts at the 1.5-mile oval, Harvick has nine top-five finishes and 10 top-10s to go with his two wins and 432 laps led.

Safe to say Harvick and the No. 4 Jimmy John’s team have been the freaks of the Cup Series field in 2018. They lead all competitors with five points-paying wins, 12 top-five finishes, 13 top-10s, 993 laps led and 26 playoff points.

A win for Harvick and the Jimmy John’s team at Chicagoland in Sunday’s Overton’s 400 would add to those freaky statistics and put the team in an even better position as the NASCAR playoffs approach.

 

KEVIN HARVICK, Driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

 

You’ve worked with Jimmy John’s for a few years. What makes Jimmy John’s unique?

“I’ve known Jimmy since 2009 and I’ve personally seen how driven he is and how his work ethic is embraced by everyone who works at Jimmy John’s. They’re freaks about the details just like he is and want to be the best, period. And he’ll outwork everyone to be the best. That’s the same mindset we have in racing.”

You’ve won four of the last seven races on 1.5 mile racetracks. Do you feel your team has become the favorite at 1.5-mile tracks since the start of the year?

“I think Atlanta is its own beast, but I think we answered a lot of those questions for ourselves. And now it’s about navigating the rest of it, and how do you push yourself forward, what do you need to work on, even though things are going well. Sometimes you have to trick yourself and everybody else into thinking, ‘OK, well, everything is going well. Well, I can promise you that the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.), the 18 (Kyle Busch), the 2 (Brad Keselowski), the 22 (Joey Logano) – everybody – is going to work, and they’re going to get better.’ I mean, we did that last year. We’ve been in this position before and you have to keep pushing forward to try to keep your advantage of things that are working well for you, but you also have to find out what your weaknesses are. So, we have to figure out how to motivate everybody to keep pushing forward to not sit idle in the things we’re doing and become complacent in the things we’re doing that are good enough right now because they won’t be when the playoffs start.

CLINT BOWYER – 2018 Chicagoland Race Advance

When you think Clint Bowyer, you think unfiltered personality. Yet this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, Bowyer will proudly wear a filter as his No. 14 Ford Fusion from Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) carries the colors of WIX® Filters in the Overton’s 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.

Fans have seen plenty of Bowyer and his gregarious personality this year as the Emporia, Kansas-native has scored two wins along with five top-five and nine top-10 finishes. In those post-race interviews – particularly the ones from victory lane – an unfiltered Bowyer has showcased his fun-loving nature, and in the days and weeks that followed, authentic, smile-inducing media interviews and social media posts have made Bowyer one of the hottest drivers in NASCAR.

Want proof? In the days before NASCAR Cup Series teams traveled to Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway for last weekend’s road-course race, television commentator Jeff Burton came up with an interesting take during a debate about which four drivers will comprise the Championship 4 in the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 Nov. 18 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Not surprisingly, most of the expert panel predicted SHR’s Kevin Harvick, along with Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., as three of the four drivers who will battle for the championship. After all, the trio has won 12 of the 16 races so far this year.

But the surprise of the debate came when Burton, himself a 21-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner, predicted the fourth driver in the title battle.

“Who’s that guy? I think it’s Clint Bowyer,” Burton said on NBC Sports. “I think about consistency. He isn’t a guy who might win six races a year, but he is always going to grind out finishes. Consistency is what he is good at. I think you are also seeing, at this point in his career, Bowyer adding a little more speed. He’s happy with his team and he and his crew chief get along. He’s having fun, enjoying what he is doing, and I think he is going to be that fourth guy.”

For his part, Bowyer isn’t ready to say he and his team are a lock for the Championship 4, but he did say the combination of SHR, Ford and Roush Yates Engines puts the No. 14 WIX Filters team in contention.

“It is a lethal package right now,” said Bowyer, who after finishing third at Sonoma sits sixth in the championship standings. “This is a humbling sport and I have been all over the place with it – high, low and everywhere in between. It just makes you appreciate the ride you are on right now and the group that I am around. We are hitting on all eight cylinders and getting the most out of our weekends and starting to get the consistency back that we were kind of lacking last year. The capability is there within the team. It is a team effort.”

Burton’s comments stirred debate on social media, but looking at Bowyer’s career record, is it really a surprise to include him in predictions for who will comprise the Championship 4?

Before arriving at SHR in 2017, Bowyer had finished in the top-five in the championship four times for two different organizations. In 2007, he finished third in points driving for Richard Childress Racing and, in 2012, he finished second in points driving for Michael Waltrip Racing. Before arriving in the Cup Series, Bowyer won the 2008 NASCAR Xfinity Series title.

It was easy to sleep on Bowyer in recent years when he drove for a team going out of business and then with a small team without a history of success. Bowyer arrived at SHR in 2017 to replace the recently retired and three-time series champion Tony Stewart. Bowyer and his new team turned in a solid year, posting the 11th-best average finish, but they were unable to capture that elusive victory and fell just one spot short of making the playoffs.

Fast forward to 2018 where Bowyer and his No. 14 WIX Filters team are being tabbed as championship contenders. It’s a status Bowyer credits to SHR’s corporate partners like WIX Filters, which provides the parts and expertise that yields an advantage. WIX Filters engineers work side-by-side with its teams, applying their research in the ultra-competitive world of auto racing to the everyday demands of light- and heavy-duty consumer and commercial usage.

“WIX Filters has made racing filters for more 50 years for a lot of champions all over the world,” said Bowyer. “I’ve used them in the racecars I drive as well as the dirt cars we run at Clint Bowyer Racing. It’s the best filter in racing and that’s why you’ll find them on every SHR Ford this season. WIX Filters have already contributed to SHR’s success this year, and I expect that will continue this weekend in Chicagoland.”

 

CLINT BOWYER, Driver of the No. 14 WIX Filters Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing:

 

What are your thoughts on Chicagoland Speedway?

“Chicago has always been a cool racetrack. It is a sister track to my home track in Kansas and that fan base up there is that Midwestern fan base I feel most comfortable with, and I enjoy going to that racetrack and interacting with them in the infield and everything else. Again, we are fortunate to be able to race all over the country and see different people in different ways of life. We’ll show them our new WIX Filters paint scheme this weekend and I hope they get as big a kick out of it as we do.”

What will it take to be a championship contender?

“To be able to compete at that level, you have to be able to unload week in, week out with cars capable of getting the job done. Most of that is the work that’s put in before the week even starts. It’s working months ahead, preparing that car for any given weekend. Then it’s the communication leading into the race. Then it’s communication through Friday, through qualifying, through Saturday’s practice sessions, and collectively putting that all together for Sunday. You have to knock on that door week in and week out. You have to build that notebook so you can start the playoffs and run in the top-five every single week. That will put you at the end.”

Are you and the No. 14 WIX Filters team at that level?

“We’re starting to do that. We’re starting that notebook that we all talk about. It’s finally starting to resonate to where you can look at it. Like, I can go back and look at last year. All right, I remember that. We’re not going to do that. We’ll be better there. We have to learn from that mistake, so on and so forth. Those are the things we’re starting to pick up on.”

Are you optimistic?

“This No. 14 WIX Filters team is getting better. The thing I love the most about the season is we start going back to these races for the second time in the playoffs. That notebook is even bigger for us because our cars have been unloading fast. Now, it’s just fine-tuning. It’s not that massive, overall change of setups you have to do going into one of those playoff races.”

How helpful is to have a partner in WIX Filters that also contributes to the performance of your Ford Fusions?

“We’ve been bringing some fast hot rods to the racetrack each weekend and I know that WIX Filters has played an important role in that. In this sport, every detail matters, and a lot can be gained by having the best filters on our racecars. Efficiency equals horsepower, and you can never have enough horsepower.”

CLINT BOWYER – 2018 Sonoma Race Report

Event:               Save Mart 350k (Round 16 of 36)
Series:               Monster EnergyNASCAR Cup Series
Location:          Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway(1.99mile road course)
Format:            110 laps, broken into three stages (25 laps/25 laps/60 laps)
Start/Finish:      19th/3rd (Running, completed 110 of 110 laps)
Point Standing: 6th (544 points, 152 out of first)

Race Winner:    Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: AJ Allmendinger of JTG Daugherty Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Stage 1 Recap (Ended at Lap 25):

  • Bowyer started 19th and finished 20th.
  • Moved into 10th by lap 11.
  • Spotter Brett Griffin told Bowyer that he, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. were the three best cars on the track.
  • Bowyer gave up fourth and dropped to 20th because he pitted with two laps remaining in the stage in order to start at the front of the field for Stage 2.

Stage 2 Recap (Ended at Lap 50):

  • Bowyer started third and finished 20th.
  • Because he pitted at the end of Stage 1 he stayed on the track during the break and moved to third on the restart.
  • Crew made air adjustments to help the No. 14 Ford turn in the corners.
  • Raced in third before dropping to 18th when he pitted with two laps left in the stage. The move enabled him to start at the front of the field for the final stage.

Stage 3 Recap (Ended at Lap 110):

  • Bowyer started third and finished third.
  • Asked crew for more help getting the car to turn.
  • Turned quickest time on the track with 40 laps remaining.
  • Made routine pit stop under green for four tires and fuel with 37 laps remaining.
  • Moved to second place with 28 laps remaining but fell back to third six laps later.
  • The stage ran caution free and Bowyer could not catch Truex or Harvick in the final laps.

Notes:

  • Martin Truex Jr. won the Save Mart 350k to score his 18thcareer Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and his second at Sonoma. His margin of victory over second-place Kevin Harvick was 10.513 seconds.
  • There were three caution periods for a total of eight laps. Twenty-one of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
  • This was Bowyer’s fifth top-five and ninth top-10 of 2018.
  • Bowyer earned his eighth top-five and 10thtop-10 in 13 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Sonoma.
  • This is the second time Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) has placed all four of its drivers in the top-10 in a single race, with Harvick finishing second, Bowyer in third, Kurt Busch fifth and Aric Almirola eighth. The last time was March 11 at ISM Raceway near Phoenix. This is the best collectivefinish for SHR since its inception in 2009.

Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 One Cure Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing: 

“I am happy to be in this equipment and have this opportunity but I am also frustrated because we were one of the three that were the class of the field and had a legitimate shot at racing for a win. All in all it was a solid day and I am proud of the guys for going out there and getting the job done. We just came up a little short.”

Next Up:

The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Overton’s 400 on Sunday, July 1 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. Coverage of the race begins at 2:30 p.m. EDT live on NBCSN.

KURT BUSCH – 2018 Sonoma Race Report

Event:               Save Mart 350k(Round 16 of 36)
Series:               Monster EnergyNASCAR Cup Series
Location:          Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway (1.99-mile road course)
Format:            110 laps, broken into three stages (25 laps/25 laps/60 laps)
Start/Finish:      23rd/ 6th(Running, completed 110 of 110 laps)
Point Standing:  7th(524points, 172out of first)                                      

Race Winner:    Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner:AJ Allmendingerof JTG Daugherty Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner:Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing (Toyota)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-25): 

  • Kurt Buschstarted 23rd, finished 25th.
  • Busch was up to 13thby lap 21.
  • On lap 22, Busch brought the No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Fusion for four tires, fuel and a tire pressure adjustment.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 26-50): 

  • Started sixth and finished 21st.
  • Was in sixth place when he pitted on lap 47 for four tires, fuel and a tire pressure adjustment. 

Final Stage Recap (Laps 51-110): 

  • Started fourth and finished sixth.
  • Busch ran in second on lap 77 but was 15 seconds behind Martin Truex Jr.
  • On lap 82, Busch took the lead as Truex pitted. Busch pitted on lap 83 for four tires and fuel.
  • Busch ended up in sixth place. 

Notes:

  • Truex won the Save Mart 350k to score his 18thcareer Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and his second at Sonoma. His margin of victory over second-place Kevin Harvick was 10.513 seconds.
  • There were three caution periods for a total of eight laps.
  • Twenty-one of the 38 drivers in the Save Mart 350k finished on the lead lap.
  • This was Busch’s ninth top-10 of 2018 and his 10thtop-10 in 18 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Sonoma.
  • Busch led a single lap to increase his laps-led total at Sonoma to 198.
  • This is the second time Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) has placed all four of its drivers in the top-10 in a single race, with Harvick finishing second, Clint Bowyer in third, Busch fifth and Aric Almirola eighth. The last time was March 11 at ISM Raceway near Phoenix. This is the best collectivefinish for SHR since its inception in 2009.

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing: 

“I went 12 rounds, and there should be no-decision today. I feel like we gave it everything we could. We didn’t have superior lap times in the beginning, and then we figured we would just do a two-stopper at the end. That is what won it last year, but I was on a three-stopper last year and a two-stopper this year. I feel like we did everything we could to just find the right rhythm, and you never know when yellows will come out but we were in position. We were a top-five car and couldn’t quite hold off my little brother at the end. We battled. This is one of my favorite tracks, and I was hoping we could contend for a win. I was looking at fourth place pretty early because the 14, 4 and 78 all checked out.” 

Next Up: 

The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Overton’s 400 on Sunday, July 1 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. The race starts at 2:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN.