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 Kentucky Speedway in Sparta. The intermediate ovals like Kentucky’s dominate the 36-race Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

Almirola heads to the Bluegrass State after a 27^th-place finish last weekend at the 2.5-mile Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway restrictor-plate track. He was involved in a 24-car accident at the beginning of Stage 2, and from there the No. 10 Smithfield crew worked hard to make repairs to Almirola’s Ford Fusion, allowing him to return to the track. However, a second on-track incident ended the Ford driver’s night prematurely.

For the second consecutive weekend, the Cup Series has a main event under the Saturday-night lights. Saturday-night races are overwhelming fan favorites as they enjoy seeing racecars leave sparks as they navigate the track under the lights, and teams find themselves dealing with considerable handling changes on the Cup Series cars as the race begins in the daylight and ends at night.

Two weeks ago at the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway oval in Joliet, Illinois, Almirola led 70 laps and earned 10 stage points and one playoff point before he was relegated to a 25^th-place finish. At 1.5-mile tracks this season, the Tampa native hasn’t finished outside the top-13, with the exception of a 32^nd-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth due to an accident, and Chicagoland’s finish due to pit-road issues.

In 18 Cup Series starts this year, Almirola has accrued an average start of 19.7, an average finish of 13.3, and he rounds out the SHR four-driver contingent with the 10^th spot in the point standings. In five career starts at Kentucky Speedway, Almirola has a best finish of 12^th, earned in July 2015.

The SHR driver also has two career Xfinity Series starts at Kentucky with a best finish of sixth earned in June 2007. Additionally, he has three starts in the Camping World Truck Series with two top-five finishes.

This weekend, Almirola is supporting fellow competitor Jimmie Johnson’s foundation by wearing a special helmet visor strip during the 267-lap event. At the race’s conclusion, Almirola will autograph the visor, which will then be available in an online auction to raise funds for the Jimmie Johnson Foundation’s support of K-12 education.

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.

This weekend’s event at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta marks the 17^th 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 much different is a night race versus a day race?

“You know to plan for it. You know your car isn’t going to be perfect. If it’s perfect when you start the race, you better be prepared to make major changes as the sun goes down. The track is going to change so much. It’s important for me to provide constructive feedback on how the car is handling so that the crew can make the right adjustments. So much can change from day to night, it’s important to have patience.”

How are you gelling with your team as the season goes on?

 “We’ve got to continue to build a notebook together and that comes with time. We’ll all make mistakes – from me, to Johnny (Klausmeier, crew chief), to the crew, and we’ll learn from those mistakes and those growing pains. The goal is to go through the first three quarters of the season and have speed, and learn from all of our nuances. Then, by the time the playoffs start, we’ll fire on all eight cylinders.”

Event:               Alsco 300 (Round 17 of 33)
Date:                 July 13, 2018
Location:          Kentucky Speedway in Sparta
Layout:             1.5-mile oval

Cole Custer Notes of Interest

• The Alsco 300 will mark Cole Custer’s third career NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta.
• Custer has earned three poles, six top-five finishes, 12 top-10s, and has led 114 laps in the 2018 Xfinity Series season.
• Custer is third in the Xfinity Series driver standings, 26 points behind leader Elliott Sadler.
• In 19 career Xfinity Series starts and nine camping World Truck Series starts at 1.5-mile ovals, Custer has one win, eight top-five finishes and 16 top-10s.
• In 2017, Custer led the Xfinity Series with 422 points at 1.5-mile tracks.
• Last year at Kentucky, Custer started third, led 49 laps and piloted the Haas Automation Ford to its first top-five at the track.
• Custer’s best finish in the 16 Xfinity Series races this season is second on May 26 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
• Custer has qualified inside the top-five at five of the last six races this season. He has earned six top-five starts and 12 top-10 starts in the 2018 Xfinity Series season.
• The No. 00 Haas Automation Ford team is bringing Chassis No. 1113 to Kentucky. Chassis No. 1113 finished second at Charlotte and fourth at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

Cole Custer, Driver Q&A

You led 49 laps last year at Kentucky. Does that track feel better than some of the other 1.5-mile tracks?

“Last year in the second (Kentucky) race, we hit on a good setup, so I’m looking forward to coming back this year and building off that. We felt really confident at Kentucky last year and led some solid laps.”

Are 1.5-mile tracks going to be your bread and butter again this year?

“I think this year we’ve gotten better at all the tracks, but the mile-and-a-half tracks are still our strong suit. It feels good to know we’re getting better at them because Homestead is where we have to be our best.”

How determined are you to hunt down a regular-season win before the playoffs start, knowing that you have the cars to do it?

“We’ve been in the hunt for wins recently, so that makes us even more hungry to go out there and get one.”

Jeff Meendering, Crew Chief Q&A

Talk about the car you are taking to Kentucky.

“We are bringing Chassis No. 1113, which we ran at Charlotte and Texas. We feel extremely confident in this car as it always gives us a solid finish. We just have to be at the right place when it counts to finally pull off a win this season. We had a shot at Charlotte and Texas this year, and Cole is getting better every time we visit a 1.5-mile track. I would expect to see our best run, yet, if all goes well.”

Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) is enjoying the best of its 10 years in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018, already winning seven races and putting all four of its Ford Fusions in the top-10 in the standings after 18 races.

No. 14 Haas Automation VF-1 Ford Fusion driver Clint Bowyer repeatedly says there is “an army” that backs him up each weekend that includes SHR’s drivers, teams, pit crews, executives, shop personnel and corporate partners, plus key competition partners like  Ford Performance and Roush-Yates Engines.

But Bowyer also reminds everyone that success starts at the top with SHR’s co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas. All in the racing world know of Stewart’s talents behind the wheel and his influence in overseeing the organization, but Haas also plays a role in SHR’s achievements.

“Gene’s the man,” Bowyer said. “He’s the man who makes it happen at Stewart-Haas Racing. Obviously, everybody knows what Tony brought to the table at this thing. Gene is that rock behind all of us that enables us to go out and perform at our best.”

The world is starting to see that, as well.

Haas formed Haas Automation in 1983 and, in the 35 years since, turned it into the largest machine tool builder in North America with a footprint encompassing more than 60 countries and 1,300 employees. Motorsports has played a key role in that growth, with SHR winning two titles and 46 Cup Series points races. That success led Haas to venture into Formula One in 2016, where in addition to creating the first American team since 1986, he uses the worldwide platform to build Haas Automation into a premium, global brand.

Bowyer said Haas provides his drivers and teams with the tools and expects victories.

“It’s never a question of, ‘What does it take financially or anything else?’” Bowyer said. “It’s, ‘What does it take to win, what does it take to be better, what does it take to find victory lane?’ Those are questions that Gene Haas asks, and that’s it. He doesn’t talk about a good top-10 finish or that you can be proud of a good run. He’ll never say maybe that was a track you struggled at when you run fifth or sixth or something.

“It’s only about winning and winning only. It’s what he does in his industry.”

Bowyer said that attitude is contagious throughout SHR’s Kannapolis, North Carolina headquarters, as well as the Haas F1 Team that scored its best-ever finishes July 1 at the Austrian Grand Prix, when its drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finished  fourth and fifth, respectively – an unheard-of result for such a young team.

“It bleeds through to his employees and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing,” Bowyer said. “Now you see him embarking on his Formula One ventures. Amazing what he’s done in motorsports the last few years.”

It’s fitting that Bowyer will drive the No. 14 Haas Automation VF-1 Ford Fusion this weekend at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta. The paint scheme celebrates the 30th anniversary of Haas Automation’s very first vertical machining center – the industry-leading VF-1.

The “V” in the model name stands for vertical – an industry-standard designation for a vertical mill – and Haas added “F1” to unofficially designate it as the company’s “Very First One.” 

Introduced in 1988 in Chicago, the Haas VF-1 established an industry milestone by being the very first American-built vertical machining center to sell for less than $50,000, an unheard-of price at that time. With a published price of $49,900 – another industry first – the Haas VF-1 quickly became the industry benchmark for affordable CNC technology. Today, the Haas VF-1 still sells for less than $50,000 – in fact, it’s only $46,995 – and Haas Automation is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of CNC machine tools with an extensive lineup of more than 100 high-value, high-performance products.

Bowyer can write his name in the SHR history book this weekend at Kentucky. Despite winning 46 Cup Series races over 10 seasons, SHR has yet to win at Kentucky or Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Kentucky and Darlington (S.C.) Raceway are the only two Cup Series tracks where Stewart never won a Cup Series race during his historic career that netted 49 victories and three championships.

Bowyer will likely be a factor in the Bluegrass State although he has enjoyed mixed success at the track that hosted its first Cup Series race in 2011. He’s scored the 13th-most points of all active drivers in the seven Cup Series races at Kentucky, highlighted by a third-place finish in 2013. Bowyer has scored the fourth-most points of all drivers in the last five races on a 1.5-mile track.

He arrives in Kentucky after a 22nd-place finish at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway last weekend. Bowyer led two laps and was battling for the lead in overtime when contact from another car ended his race with a hard crash. It also ended a string of three consecutive top-five finishes for the Kansas native.

Daytona is behind him and he’s looking forward to Kentucky, where he’ll be a contender given his recent success and the SHR “army” behind him, along with co-owners Stewart and Haas.

CLINT BOWYER, Driver of the No. 14 Haas Automation VF-1 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Do you like going to Kentucky?

“Kentucky is a great market and a fun fan base. We don’t get over there very often, so it’s cool to go to Kentucky and see everyone from that part of the country.”

“Blue Moon of Kentucky” is the official bluegrass song of the State of Kentucky. It was written by bluegrass musician Bill Monroe in 1946 and recorded by his band the Blue Grass Boys.

The song has been covered by many artists, including Elvis Presley, Patsy Klein and Paul McCartney and, in 2003, the song was added to the United State Library of Congress National Recording Registry.

Perhaps the most famous – or infamous – version of the song was in the 1987 smash hit movie “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” Steve Martin, playing Neal Page, and the late John Candy, playing Del Griffith, sang it in tune while they were driving a burned-out and roofless car in Illinois, headed to Chicago for Thanksgiving.

What does all this have to do with Kurt Busch and Saturday night’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta? Nothing, but anytime a Del Griffith reference can be made, it’s good for copy.

Busch, driver of the No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), is hoping his car will stay in much better shape than the one Page and Griffith were driving in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”

There have only been seven NASCAR Cup Series races at Kentucky since the series made its inaugural trip to the 1.5-mile oval in 2011. Busch, while winless at Kentucky, has knocked down a top-five finish, four top-10s and led a total of 51 laps. His average start is 12.0 and his average finish is 12.9.

Busch’s best Kentucky performance came in 2016, when he qualified third and led once for 10 laps before finishing fourth. The third-place qualifying effort equaled his best at Kentucky, first earned in the inaugural Cup Series race in 2011. And his fourth-place finish was his best at the track, topping his previous best of sixth secured in the 2013 race.

That fourth-place finish allowed Busch to check off another stat box on his tenured Cup Series resume, as it gave Busch a top-five at every track on the Cup Series schedule.

And if Busch scores his 30^th career victory Saturday night in the Bluegrass state, he’ll have to decide between “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and “My Old Kentucky Home.”

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

Talk about Kentucky Speedway.

“Kentucky was one of the first tracks to reconfigure their banking along with the new asphalt. They changed turns one and two to add a bunch of banking and then left turns three and four on the lower side of the banking. It just completely changes both ends of the track. SMI (Speedway Motorsports Inc.) is challenging themselves to almost replicate someplace like Darlington, where both ends of the track are very different. It just makes it that much more challenging. I had been going to the track for nearly a decade and it was Kentucky, it was flat on both ends. So you just have to go in with a new mindset. I still think the key is to make sure the car is cutting though turns three and four. You can make a pass coming out of turn four.”

So it’s sort of like Pocono and Darlington, where you’re trying to find the right combination even though both ends of the track are different?

“That’s exactly what it is. The track was designed where you have to dial it in at both ends and you have to compromise. And anytime there is compromise, some teams will have speed in one corner and not in the other. And that will create better opportunities for passing.”

You’ve been in the top-five a lot this year. Do you think a victory is on its way?

“You have to be in position and you have to be able to pounce when others have a miscommunication or a slow pit stop.  I mean, the 18 car wasn’t very effective in the first half of the race at Chicago two weeks ago. The second half of the race, whether it was adjustments or the track, came to them, and his pit crew leapfrogged him above other pit crews and he put himself in position. You can’t just expect to win if you’re running fifth with 50 laps to go. You have to execute.”

You’ve been competing at Kentucky since its beginning, running the track’s inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in 2000. The track has changed quite a bit even since the NASCAR Cup Series began racing at Kentucky in 2011. What did you think of the place when you first arrived as a Truck Series rookie?

“I went there for the first time when I was racing Trucks. It was an inaugural race and I thought that, since it was the first time anyone went there, that rookies had just as good of a shot to win as veterans. I overdrove that race every ounce I could and ended up wrecking with about 15 laps to go while running in the lead pack. I hit pretty hard. I think that was one of the hardest hits I’ve taken. Kentucky stood up and bit me the first time I was there. And, up until 2011, we never ran a Cup race there, so we used it as a test facility. My time when I was at Roush, I think we were there every other Tuesday making laps. So, I had plenty of laps at Kentucky, but not in race configuration.”

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), is looking to check an item off of his to-do list Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta.

Harvick has scored Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series wins at 21 of 23 racetracks on the current Cup Series schedule. He lacks only Kentucky and Pocono (Pa.) Raceway – both tracks with a race remaining in 2018.

The only driver to win at more tracks than Harvick is 2015 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, who has won races at all 23 venues the series visits with his victory in May at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway sealing the feat.

For Harvick, Kentucky also happens to be the only track on the current schedule where he’s yet to score a top-five finish.

The 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion had a strong effort at the newly repaved Kentucky Speedway in 2016. He started from the pole position after inclement weather cancelled Cup Series qualifying and the starting lineup was set according to the NASCAR Rule Book. He went on to lead a race-high 128 of 267 laps around the 1.5-mile oval, but fuel strategy caused him to make a late-race pit stop that foiled his strong run and ended in a ninth-place finish. In 2017, Harvick again finished ninth at Kentucky.

The native of Bakersfield, California has scored five consecutive top-10 finishes at Kentucky dating back to 2013 with a best finish of seventh coming in 2014.

Also on the to-do list for Harvick this weekend and the seven races that follow is the accumulation of playoff points that are so critical at this point in the season. Thus, even more pressure to start up front and, ultimately, to try and win the Busch Pole award. Harvick’s 27 playoff points heading to Kentucky rank him second to Busch, who leads the series with 30.

The best way to score the maximum amount of playoff points in a race is to start up front, earn stage points and win races. Harvick and the No. 4 team can accomplish all of those goals with a win this weekend – and cross another track off his list while scoring the most playoff points possible.

The No. 4 Busch Light team will give it everything it has to earn the win and the points Saturday night at Kentucky.

KEVIN HARVICK, Driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Fusion:

You’ve scored five straight top-10s at Kentucky Speedway but are still looking for that first top-five and win. What makes Kentucky so challenging?

“We’ve actually run really well there the last couple of years and led a lot of laps. I’m not sure it is any one thing that makes Kentucky challenging to be honest, just for the fact that they’ve recently repaved it and it really is a unique track that is hard to get everything just right.”

What challenges does the heat in Kentucky present this time of year?

“Kentucky is always a hot race and we’ve had some weather there over the last few years, but to be honest, it’s the same for everyone. It really just comes down to preparation for the driver and the team. As a driver I have to take care of myself to make sure I’m ready. The team has to focus on the doing the best they can to make it as bearable in the car. It also makes it tough on the handling of the car, especially on a new racing surface. It’s going to be very slick and hard to get the setup just right, but I’m confident in my team and the preparation they put into this race.”