Month: January 2020

Leading Service and Technology Solutions Company Joins No. 98 NASCAR Xfinity Series Team and Driver Chase Briscoe for 10 Primary Races with Associate Sponsorship at All Other Races

HighPoint, a leading customer service and technology solutions company, has partnered with Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) to become the team’s official IT solutions provider and a primary sponsor of its No. 98 NASCAR Xfinity Series entry with driver Chase Briscoe.

The Sparta, New Jersey-based IT company will make its debut in the season-opening NASCAR Racing Experience 300 Feb. 15 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, with Briscoe driving the No. 98 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang. It will be the first of 10 races where HighPoint serves as the team’s primary sponsor. For all other races, HighPoint will be an associate sponsor.

“HighPoint is guided by 33 fundamentals, all of which are based on the principles of honesty, integrity and trust,” said Mike Mendiburu, president and CEO, HighPoint. “We’ve found a like-minded organization in Stewart-Haas Racing and a similarly focused driver in Chase Briscoe. When you combine our service culture with our long-term industry expertise, we’re able to create purpose that aligns in meeting our business objectives.”

Briscoe won the 2019 rookie-of-the-year title in the Xfinity Series and will race for a championship in 2020. The 25-year-old from Mitchell, Indiana, is a two-time winner in the Xfinity Series and the 2016 ARCA Racing Series champion.

“Even though we race stock cars, there’s nothing stock about what we do,” Briscoe said. “The science of our cars is impressive, but the technology that goes into building our Ford Mustangs and then making them perform is even more advanced. Our IT needs are pretty complex, and we demand a lot from our technology every day, whether it’s at the shop or at the track. HighPoint is more than just a sponsor – they’re a partner that helps us perform.”

HighPoint’s partnership with SHR also brings a strong business-to-business component to NASCAR, with the award-winning firm able to service any and all technology needs in a sport where approximately 140 Fortune 500 companies are invested.

“Walk around our race shop during the week and the garage area on a race weekend and you’ll see how our racecars and our entire industry relies on technology,” said Mike Verlander, vice president of sales and marketing, SHR. “From engine diagnostics to fuel-mileage calculations, our business is dependent on service and technology solutions. Every company needs what HighPoint provides, and we’ll work diligently to facilitate those introductions.”

“HighPoint’s objective is to serve our customers as a trusted advisor on how they acquire, consume and adopt technology,” Mendiburu added. “We’re able to highlight this methodology by partnering with Stewart-Haas Racing – a championship-winning race team that has achieved success by working together and leveraging all of its available resources.”

About HighPoint:
HighPoint is a leading customer service and technology solutions company. With its customer-centric, results-driven approach to digital transformation, you get technology that works, delivered by people you want to work with. HighPoint builds lasting relationships with clients, employees and partners based on honesty, integrity, trust and a mutual commitment to growth and success. The company, founded in 1996, is a minority-owned business headquartered in Sparta, New Jersey, serving markets in the tri-state region and southeastern United States, with a presence in Charlotte, North Carolina, and overseas in London. To contact us or learn more about our solutions, please visit www.HighPoint.com.

About Stewart-Haas Racing:

Stewart-Haas Racing is the title-winning NASCAR team co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation – the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America. The Kannapolis, North Carolina-based organization has won two NASCAR Cup Series titles, one NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and more than 70 NASCAR races, including such crown-jewel events as the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and Southern 500. For more information, please visit us online at www.StewartHaasRacing.com, on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/StewartHaasRacing, on Twitter @StewartHaasRcng and on Instagram @StewartHaasRacing.

Stewart-Haas eSports, the simracing extension of Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), has named its two drivers for the 2020 eNASCAR iRacing World Championship Series, promoting one accomplished simracer from within its NASCAR team and selecting another veteran simracer from outside the United States.

Justin Bolton is a 24-year-old engineer on SHR’s NASCAR Xfinity Series team who helped Cole Custer to a career-high seven victories in 2019. Bolton has raced in the iRacing World Championship off and on since 2014, accumulating 46 starts with nine top-five finishes and a career-best points result of ninth in 2015. The Latrobe, Pennsylvania, native also has real-world racing experience, as Bolton has raced Legends cars and Late Model stock cars, winning the 2013 Fall Classic at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway in the Limited Late Model division.

Canadian Dylan Duval is a 24-year-old from Halifax, Nova Scotia. The graphic designer debuted in the iRacing World Championship in 2012 and is the first Canadian iRacing winner in series history, taking the virtual checkered flag at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2016. Duval has made 73 starts in his seven-year career, scoring eight top-fives and earning a best points finish of fifth in 2016.

Bolton will race Stewart-Haas eSports’ No. 10 Ford Mustang and Duval will pilot the team’s No. 41 Ford Mustang.

“I’m really proud to be a part of Stewart-Haas eSports and extend my overall role within Stewart-Haas Racing,” Bolton said. “It’s tough to get started in racing and even harder to stay there as a driver. iRacing has allowed me the opportunity to pursue my driving career while trialing some of my ideas from an engineering standpoint. Competing for Stewart-Haas eSports is an excellent way for me to pair my engineering role at SHR with my actual racing experience.”

“I’ve been competing as an independent in iRacing ever since I started in 2012,” Duval said. “To be able to continue my simracing career with such a prestigious organization in Stewart-Haas Racing and be a part of their growing esports involvement makes me genuinely excited. Stewart-Haas eSports has infrastructure and support I’ve never had before. To say I’m looking forward to the 2020 eNASCAR iRacing World Championship Series is a massive understatement.”

The 2020 season will mark the 11^th year of the eNASCAR iRacing World Championship Series and it is the only officially sanctioned esports series of NASCAR. It features the top-40 paved oval simracers in the world who compete in racecar replicas engineered from the ground up in cooperation with real-world race teams, applying accurate mechanical and dynamic models on exact copies of the world’s greatest racing circuits.

The 2020 eNASCAR iRacing World Championship Series consists of 20 races and begins Feb. 11 at the virtual Daytona International Speedway. The series competes through October with the champion receiving their trophy, ring and check during pre-race ceremonies on Nov. 8 prior to the season-ending NASCAR Cup Series race Phoenix Raceway.

About Stewart-Haas eSports:

NASCAR is the ultimate test of driver acumen and mechanical know-how, where teams scrutinize every detail in a never-ending quest for speed. Stewart-Haas Racing has thrived in this environment, winning races and championships to firmly establish its presence in NASCAR. Stewart-Haas eSports emulates these efforts in the virtual world, where sim technology provides a visceral experience that amplifies the grit and determination of NASCAR drivers in the real world. Stewart-Haas eSports is a natural extension of Stewart-Haas Racing, where competition and simulation are one. For more information, please visit us online at www.StewartHaasRacing.com and follow on Twitter @SHR_eSports. 

About Stewart-Haas Racing:

Stewart-Haas Racing is the title-winning NASCAR team co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation – the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America. The Kannapolis, North Carolina-based organization has won two NASCAR Cup Series titles, one NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and more than 70 NASCAR races, including such crown-jewel events as the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and Southern 500. For more information, please visit us online at www.StewartHaasRacing.com, on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/StewartHaasRacing, on Twitter @StewartHaasRcng and on Instagram @StewartHaasRacing.

-SHR-

2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year Ready for Championship Run in 2020

After winning the 2019 rookie-of-the-year title in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Chase Briscoe will race for an Xfinity Series championship in 2020 as he returns to Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR).

Briscoe is a two-time winner in the Xfinity Series, with both of his victories coming in SHR-prepared Ford Mustangs. The 25-year-old from Mitchell, Indiana, finished fifth in the championship standings in 2019, earning a berth in the NASCAR Playoffs with a win, two poles and 13 top-five and 26 top-10 finishes in his first full season of Xfinity Series competition.

“This is the first time I’ll be able to run back-to-back, full seasons with the same team, and I couldn’t be happier to do it with Stewart-Haas Racing,” said Briscoe, a development driver with Ford Performance. “Their faith in me means a lot, and I want to reward them and Ford with more wins and a run for the championship.”

“We are thrilled to continue Chase’s development program with a second full season running the Xfinity Series for Stewart-Haas Racing,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “Chase has proven himself well so far and we’re looking forward to continuing his progression as he competes for an Xfinity Series championship for SHR and Ford.”

Briscoe is a third-generation racer whose career began on dirt tracks in and around Indiana. Since he was 13, Briscoe has followed in his grandfather’s and father’s footsteps, racing sprint cars on the rough and tumble bullrings of the Midwest. It’s a lineage that makes Briscoe a natural fit for SHR, as the Xfinity Series team is co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, an Indiana native who also began his career on dirt.

“We’re very proud to have Chase back with Stewart-Haas Racing,” said Stewart, who co-owns SHR with Haas Automation founder Gene Haas. “Chase is an Indiana kid with a dirt-track background who has shown he can race on asphalt as well as he can on dirt. We think very highly of him and look forward to a strong season in 2020.”

Briscoe has thrived in his transition to NASCAR, which began after a six-win campaign in the 2016 ARCA Racing Series earned him the championship by a whopping 535 points. He advanced to the NASCAR Truck Series in 2017, earning four poles and winning the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Briscoe’s 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes allowed him to make the playoffs, finish sixth in points and score the series’ rookie-of-the-year and most popular driver awards.

Briscoe parlayed a limited Xfinity Series schedule in 2018 where he drove for both SHR and Roush-Fenway Racing into a full-time drive in 2019 for SHR. He earned his first career Xfinity Series victory on Sept. 29, 2018 in just his 14^th career start when he won the inaugural race at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval. Briscoe scored his second Xfinity Series win in his 36^th career start July 27, 2019 at Iowa Speedway in Newton.

About Stewart-Haas Racing:

Stewart-Haas Racing is the title-winning NASCAR team co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation – the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America. The Kannapolis, North Carolina-based organization has won two NASCAR Cup Series titles, one NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and more than 70 NASCAR races, including such crown-jewel events as the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and Southern 500. For more information, please visit us online at www.StewartHaasRacing.com, on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/StewartHaasRacing, on Twitter @StewartHaasRcng and on Instagram @StewartHaasRacing.