Month: August 2020

Event:  UNOH 188 (Round 19 of 33)
Date:  Aug. 15, 2020
Location:  Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway
Layout:  3.57-mile, 14 turn-road course

Chase Briscoe Notes of Interest

• Briscoe has become one of the stronger road-course competitors in the Xfinity Series. The 25-year-old racer from Mitchell, Indiana, picked up his first career Xfinity Series victory in the series’ inaugural race on the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval in 2018. He also fulfilled his childhood dream of kissing the bricks at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway when he won earlier this summer on the track’s road course to score his series-leading fifth win of the season and the seventh of his career.

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 98 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang:

You’re from Indiana and you grew up racing sprint cars on dirt tracks. How have you become so good on road courses?

“I hadn’t done any road-course racing until 2016, but once I had the chance, I enjoyed doing it – I just wasn’t very fast. I was always three to three-and-a-half seconds off the fastest guy. I felt like I was going fast, but I wasn’t fast at all. Then in 2018, Ford had me run eight out of the 11 IMSA races on the schedule. That experience allowed me to win on a road course that year at Charlotte, and then I followed that up this year by taking our HighPoint.com Ford Mustang to the win on the road course at Indy. I feel like though my road-course skills have gotten way better, I still have quite a bit to do to get better, but I’m definitely way more in the ballpark now than I ever was before I started running IMSA races.”

What was your reaction to having the Daytona road course added to the Xfinity Series schedule?

“I like it. Obviously, we’re not going to Mid-Ohio or Watkins Glen, so we needed to replace it with another road course. Truthfully, these first-time races have worked out great for me between the Roval and Indy, so I’m all for it. I enjoy going to places where I feel it’s a clean slate just because I don’t feel like I’m behind the eight-ball as much. You go to a place like Mid-Ohio or Road America, where I’d never been to before, and I’m trying to play catch-up to guys who have a lot of laps at those tracks. When we go to a place like the Daytona road course for the first time, we’re all on an even playing field. I would rather run the road course than the superspeedway just because I feel like it puts the race more in the driver’s hands. So, I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s going to be a really good race. The speed difference is going to be huge between what I’ve ran there in the past in IMSA and the stock car. On the simulator, we’re like 195 mph into the bus stop. In the IMSA car, we’re only 165 mph or something like that, so the speed in our HighPoint.com Ford Mustang is going to be way different, but it’s going to be fun.”

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Go Bowling Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) in the NASCAR Cup Series, will race in uncharted territory this weekend when he takes on the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway road course, where the series will race for the first time.

“It’s going to be insane,” Almirola said. “We have no idea what to expect. It’s fitting that the race is the Go Bowling 235.  You might see cars getting knocked around like bowling pins in turn one. For me, I’m hoping to make it through the first lap clean and build slowly, faster and more aggressive in each corner as the race goes on.”

In 2018, the series raced for the first time on the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway “roval.” Almirola started 20th that day and finished 19th, which was good enough to advance him to the next round of the NASCAR playoffs after a nail-biting final stretch. Last year, he was in a similar position on the “roval” but needed to gain 12 positions at the end of that race to move on. The Go Bowling Ford driver turned on the jets in the closing laps and came up just five spots and a few seconds short of the next playoff round. In Almirola’s last nine road-course events, he’s earned two top-10 finishes – both with SHR at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway’s 1.99-mile layout.

“I feel like, as a driver, I’ve become better at road courses over the years,” Almirola said. “The simulator technology Ford provides us gives me an opportunity to improve my road-course skills. This will be the first road-course outing together for me and (crew chief) Mike Bugarewicz, so I’m excited to see if we can continue this momentum at a new venue.”

Bugarewicz knows what it takes to build a winning road-course car. In 2016, he led the No. 14 team and SHR co-owner Tony Stewart to his final victory as a Cup Series driver at Sonoma.

Almirola has earned 10 top-10 finishes in the last 11 races with five of those being top-fives. His average finish is 6.5 over the last 11 races. The No. 10 Go Bowling Ford driver sits eighth in the driver standings for his career-best points position after 22 races.

Almirola has career totals of two wins, two poles, 23 top-five finishes, 74 top-10s and 801 laps led in 338 starts. He has led a total of 264 laps this year at eight different venues.

Go Bowling will adorn the No. 10 Ford this weekend at Daytona for the first time in 2020 and holds the entitlement sponsorship of this weekend’s race – the GoBowling 235.

The Go Bowling America league program focuses on bringing families, young adults and kids alike back to the lanes in a healthy and safe fashion, as centers around the country have implemented strict measures to ensure the wellness of its employees and customers who come to bowl. Go Bowling, in conjunction with its industry partners, has introduced detailed safety protocols to the thousands of U.S. bowling centers that include social distancing recommendations, use of personal protective equipment where required, and guidelines for sanitizing balls and shoes, as well as other equipment in the facility. Additionally, the Go Bowling America league program provides every bowler who joins at a participating bowling center with his or her own, brand-new bowling ball to minimize shared contact.

“Bowling and racing line up well together,” Almirola said. “It’s a great team-building sport that we’ve used at Stewart-Haas Racing, but it’s also something you can do with your family and friends, regardless of age or experience. Bowling has always been the crowd pleaser in the Almirola household. We’re hoping to park this Go Bowling Ford in victory lane and finally get this regular-season win that is alluding us. We’re so close.”

Aric Almirola: Driver of the No. 10 Go Bowling Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

What has led to such a great season for you so far? 

“A great team and organization. I feel like as a racecar driver I keep getting better each year. I learn more from the previous year. I work really hard at building my craft. We’ve run up front and led a lot of laps. It’s definitely been the best year of my career to date. I’m hoping we can get that victory that keeps alluding us this regular season and we’ll go into the playoffs in championship-caliber form.”

How hard will you go into the first turn at the Daytona road course with no practice?

“Pretty easy. I think that’s one of the scary things going into this with no practice. You’re going to be trying to find the limit of not only the car, but also the track. With me not having any experience at the track, it’s going to be easy to make a mistake to push the limits of a car for that particular corner of the track and try to get in the braking zone deeper and end up making a mistake and wrecking. I’m certainly going to take it easier to start the race.”

What is the highest game you’ve ever bowled? 

“I think the highest I’ve ever bowled was 212. I think that’s pretty good for someone who doesn’t bowl much. I grew up in Tampa escaping the summer heat inside a bowling alley. My family loves bowling, as well. It’s one of our favorite things to do as a family. The partnership we have with Go Bowling is so natural to me because it’s something we do year-round.”

Kevin Harvick heads to the Go Bowling 235 NASCAR Cup Series race on the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway road course with just 1.25 tracks left to conquer on the NASCAR schedule.

How is this possible?

After his victory June 27 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, the first of his career at the track, Harvick finished fourth at Kentucky, where he still hasn’t seen victory lane. He also hasn’t won on the “roval” at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, which first appeared on the schedule in 2018.

Harvick did win the 2011 and 2013 Coca-Cola 600 and the 500-mile fall race in 2014 on the Charlotte oval.

Then NASCAR added the Daytona road course to the 2020 schedule and that portion of the track has never hosted a NASCAR race. But Harvick is victorious on the Daytona oval, having won the 2007 Daytona 500 and the 2010 Coke Zero 400.

So why the number 1.25? No reason, but the only facility where Harvick has never won a Cup race is Kentucky. So the .25 represents the two road courses within their respective ovals at Daytona and Charlotte.

Harvick has started just one race on the Daytona road course – the February 2002 edition of the Rolex 24-hour endurance race. He was part of a four-driver team with Rick Carelli, John Metcalf and Davy Lee Liniger. Harvick qualified the car second in class and drove early in the race, but after a driver change, the engine expired just 123 laps into the race and the team finished 69th overall and eighth in the American Grand Touring (AGT) class.

Tony Stewart, Harvick’s current boss, also drove in that race.

Harvick will pilot the No. 4 Busch Beer National Forest Foundation Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) Sunday at Daytona. He’ll have the support of the National Forest Foundation, as well.

The National Forest Foundation is the leading organization inspiring personal and meaningful connections to America’s National Forests, the centerpiece of the country’s public lands.

Working on behalf of the American public, the foundation leads forest conservation efforts and promotes responsible recreation. The organization operates under the belief that these lands, and all they provide, are an American treasure and are vital to the health of communities nationwide.

Harvick had the National Forest Foundation on his car last year at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon when he started 14th and finished first. He’s hoping to do the same this year on the Daytona road course. Busch Beer will also donate $1,000 for every lap Harvick leads this weekend, up to $30,000.

It’s been more than 18 years since Harvick raced the road course at Daytona. But he’s proven he can win anywhere and is looking for career victory number 56, which would tie him with Kyle Busch for ninth on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins list.

KEVIN HARVICK, Driver of the No. 4 Busch Beer / National Forest Foundation Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing: 

What are your thoughts on the Daytona road-course race?

“I think it will be fun. As you look at the events that we have and those unique events – I’ve been talking about that for years and I think this will be one of them. The Daytona road course is very historic and it’s a little bit different (for us) with the chicane on the front straightaway. I started working on it this week. We’re week-to-week people. I’ll turn my iRacing simulator on for the first time since I ‘left’ North Wilkesboro (May 9) and figure out where the hell I’m going, and then I’ll go to the real simulator on Wednesday and figure out how to drive. It will be interesting because of the fact we have no practice. But that’s what we need. We need more unique events.”

You scored your ninth consecutive top-five finish Sunday and sixth win of 2020. Have you ever been in a zone like this before?

“Look, we’ve had some great years. I wouldn’t call this our best. I think 2015 and 2018 were great years. We closed 2014 really good. It’s hard to tell what the end of the year is going to bring as far as this could be the last win, or you might win six more. You just never know. I think the most important thing is to stay focused on the week-to-week attitude of trying to prepare the best that you can. Win or lose last week, on Monday you have to be preparing for the next week. It’s ultra-important to have a short-term memory. I think our team does a really good job with that, making sure we’re prepared for the next race the best that we can. You take all you can out of that on Monday morning, then move on to the next one.”

Where does this season rank for you in how consistent you’ve been? Win number six in the regular season, what makes this season unique?

“Well, I think COVID makes it unique, first off, just the circumstances that it takes to get to the racetrack. I think a lot of that just goes into how prepared our team is and the details that they’re covering to get the cars right, get them close, come to the racetrack, watch the pit crew perform, watch Rodney (Childers, crew chief) make great calls.  I get to race the car on the racetrack and do the best that I can. On the days when things aren’t going like we want them to with the handling in the racecar, we figure out a way to have some good pit strategy or restarts. They have a great pit stop on pit road. When one side is down, there’s somebody there to pick up the pieces on the other side. That’s what it takes to run well week in and week out. In the circumstances we’re in, you’re just not going to hit it every week. You’re going to have to battle through it, try to have the best day that you can. As far as where it ranks, it’s really hard. I don’t think about things like that. I just go week to week. As you get to the end of the season, you can kind of sit back and really look back on the things that have happened. That’s the same thing that we’ll do this year. But it’s been a great year, can’t argue with that.”

You should be on the pole for the road course at the Daytona based on the new way NASCAR is generating the starting lineup via previous finish, fastest lap and points positon. What does it mean, now, that you’re kind of earning your starting position?

“Yeah, I’m a little bit torn on that. That wasn’t my vote. I voted for one through 36 random draw every week for charter teams. I think it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Obviously, I think there’s definitely some merit to it as far as earning your position in the things that you do. I think, in the position we’re in, there’s also some merit in keeping it mixed up, keeping it fair, having some new players at the front, giving them an opportunity. At some point during the year, some of those guys are going to qualify well and have a chance to have a good weekend. If you’re back in the mid part of the pack, you don’t have an opportunity to qualify, sometimes those are taken away. It will be interesting. I’m good with whatever. I think me leading everybody into turn one at Daytona could be interesting because I have no freaking clue where I’m going as we go down there. Most everybody in the field is the same way. We’ll prepare the best we can and hope we can make it around the first lap with all the wheels still headed in the right direction.”

Cole Custer and the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang team head south for Sunday’s road-course event at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The NASCAR Cup Series will run the speedway’s newly tweaked 14-turn, 3.57-mile layout.

Custer will pilot the No. 41 Ford Mustang adorned with HaasTooling.com for his 26th career Cup Series start. In preparation for this weekend’s event, the Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) driver has spent multiple hours in the Ford simulator. “I’ve probably been in the simulator five or six hours practicing the Daytona road course,” Custer said. “We’ve obviously had to sort through some stuff to get it as realistic as we think we can. From there, it’s trying to get me better and there’s a lot of stuff to work through because we haven’t been there in these Cup cars. We’re trying to make sure we’re close on the car, and making sure I’m driving it how I need to. There’s a lot of stuff to be done since we’re going to a brand new track layout and we need to make sure we’ve hit everything so we are 100 percent when we show up.”

In last weekend’s doubleheader at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Custer finished 34th in Saturday’s race after an accident ended his day prematurely. On Sunday, Custer ran as high as the top-15 until the handling went away on the No. 41 machine late in the race, and he finished 25th. Teammate Kevin Harvick captured the win both days to earn Ford Performance the prestigious Michigan Heritage Trophy.

This Sunday’s Daytona road course was added to the schedule amended due to COVID-19 restrictions and replaces the originally scheduled Watkins (N.Y.) International event. Sunday is the first time the heavy NASCAR stock cars will race on the road-course layout at Daytona. Making the event more unique is that NASCAR continues to institute a no-practice and no-qualifying policy, meaning no one will have the opportunity to drive on the actual course before the green flag drops on the 234.65-mile event.

Custer doesn’t have any road-course starts in the Cup Series. However, he has 11 road-course starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, including three each at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, and Watkins Glen, along with two starts at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway’s “roval.” Custer also has three road-course starts in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park near Toronto.

So far this season, the Mustang has earned 13 wins for Ford. Custer and his SHR teammate Harvick have both earned wins for the Blue Oval this season and have accounted for a total of seven victories.

With Custer’s Cup Series win July 12 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, he became one of 10 drivers who have won in each of NASCAR’s top three national series, as well as in ARCA and NASCAR’s developmental K&N Pro Series.

Team co-owner Gene Haas’ newest holding, Haas Tooling, was launched as a way for CNC machinists to purchase high quality cutting tools at great prices. Haas’ cutting tools are sold exclusively online at HaasTooling.com and shipped directly to end users. Beginning July 1, HaasTooling.com products became available nationally. The cutting tools available for purchase at HaasTooling.com are even more important during the current COVID-19 pandemic as CNC machines have become vital to producing personal protective equipment.

There are four races left in the regular season before the playoffs start Sept. 6 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, and Custer’s win at Kentucky earned him one of the coveted 16 playoff spots. Harvick also owns a playoff spot after six wins this season.

Overall at Daytona, SHR has three wins on the superspeedway oval – two in the July race by team co-owner Tony Stewart and one Daytona 500 win earned by former SHR driver Kurt Busch in 2017.

Haas Automation, founded by Haas in 1983, is America’s leading builder of CNC machine tools. The company manufactures a complete line of vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers and rotary tables and indexers. All Haas products are constructed in the company’s 1.1-million-square-foot manufacturing facility in Oxnard, California, and distributed through a worldwide network of Haas Factory Outlets.

Even though Custer had a trio of starts in the Cup Series in 2018, 2020 officially marks his Rookie of the Year campaign in NASCAR’s most prestigious series. He’s competing for rookie honors with notables Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick. The three have battled against each other in the Xfinity Series and are making the full-time transition to the Cup Series together. Custer is the first of the 2020 rookie class to earn a win this season.

Cole Custer: Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

How do you feel about the choose cone rule now that it has been in action for a couple of races?

“The choose cone rule has been a little bit difficult to figure out what you want to do. It’s an important part of the race to choose which lane you want to be in and to take advantage of it, but it can also be over-thought and be really complicated if you want to do it perfectly. It’s something we still have to work on some. I think we figured out how to do it during Michigan, it’s just a matter of putting it all together.”

Do you think the choose cone rule will be more beneficial at some tracks versus others?

“The choose rule will be more important at places where there is a dominant lane. You’re really going to want to take advantage of that and know what the numbers are and how to take advantage of it. When it comes to other tracks where the lanes are more equal, it’s not going to be as big of a deal.”

How would you rate yourself as a road racer?

“I’ve always loved road racing and I feel like I’ve done a fairly decent job at it. I’ve been really close to winning several road-course races but have never won on one, so that’s always made me pretty mad, honestly. It’s always fun to race them and they’re very unpredictable. I’ve come close a number of times and to not have a win is pretty frustrating.”

It was more than seven years ago and he barely remembers it, but Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), is one of the few NASCAR Cup Series drivers who’ve logged laps on the 14-turn, 3.57-mile road course at Daytona (Fla) International Speedway where the series will race for the first time in Sunday afternoon’s Go Bowling 235.

Bowyer drove an AF Corse GT entry in the 2013 Rolex 24 with teammates Rob Kauffmann, Rui Aguas and two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip. The foursome finished 16th overall and seventh in class in the 24-hour event, logging 677 laps around the track.

His Daytona road course experience, Bowyer is the first to point out, came in a much more nimble sports car compared to the 3,500-pound Cup Series car he’ll driving Sunday.

“I’m probably unique since at least I have some laps on the racetrack,” Bowyer said. “It was a long time ago. I don’t even remember those laps, but I ran the Rolex 24 and have some experience on that track. I think there are definitely drivers and teams who have experience of running at the Rolex who will be ahead of the pack, ahead of the curve, for sure. But, it’s nothing like driving one of these Cup cars. That’s going to be totally new to all of us.”

Bowyer’s limited experience became even more important when NASCAR ruled there would be no practice or qualifying for Sunday’s 234.65-mile event. NASCAR also added a chicane to the exit of the superspeedway oval’s turn four to help slow speeds before entering the infield portion of the course. There is already a chicane on the backstretch of the oval. The rumble strips used for the chicane are the same ones used for the “roval” at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

Temporary lights will be brought in for the infield in case the 65-lap race has to be run into the night.

“I think it’s a tall order to show up there and to run a track that we’ve never been on before with a tire combination, rule package, aero, horsepower, everything we’ve never even seen before,” Bowyer said. “It’s going to be a crapshoot for everybody.”

He said he understands why NASCAR is not allowing practice or qualifying amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These are challenging times,” he said. “To ask the team to come up with a unique car again for a backup car and everything else, I mean, it’s saving them money. I get it. Everything’s tight right now. So, you’ve got to give and take in this scenario, and I think that’s definitely a given for this race.”

Bowyer will carry the decals of Mobil 1 on his No. 14 Ford on Sunday. Mobil 1 isn’t just the world’s leading synthetic motor oil brand, it also provides the entire SHR team with leading lubricant technology, ensuring that all SHR Mustangs have a competitive edge over the competition on the track. In its 17th consecutive season as the “Official Motor Oil of NASCAR,” Mobil 1 is used by more than 50 percent of teams throughout NASCAR’s top three series.

“With all the unknowns this weekend at Daytona, we are glad we can count on Mobil 1 in our Ford Mustang,” Bowyer said. “There are a lot of questions, but I know our Roush-Yates engines are going to be strong and reliable. ExxonMobil knows our sport and our engines inside out. Andy Moran and his Mobil 1 lubricant engineering team help to develop new formulations at points throughout the year, which constantly exceed our very high expectations and provide the vital improvements we need.”

Sunday’s race is as important as any race so far this season, according to Bowyer. He arrives 12th in the driver standings after finishes of 14th and 19th in last weekend’s doubleheader at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. Bowyer is 14th in the playoff standings with a 60-point cushion for the final transfer spot into the 16-driver playoff field.

A win at Daytona Sunday secures a spot in NASCAR’s postseason, but a good run helps in padding his points cushion with just three races left in the regular season thereafter. The Cup Series will run its third doubleheader of the season Aug. 22 and 23 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, then return to Daytona Aug. 29 to race on the oval for the regular-season finale.

“This is the time of the year when the pay window starts to open and we want to be there,” Bowyer said. “Obviously, we need some good runs at both Daytonas and both Dovers coming up in the next few weeks. I’m pretty confident. Both of those places have been good to us in the past.”

Bowyer should be one of the favorites Sunday at Daytona. He has scored the fourth-most points of any driver in the last nine road-course races held at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International and at the Charlotte “roval.” He owns 12 top-five finishes in his 30 career road-course races.

With laps on the track at Daytona, even though it was a long time ago, a successful career on road courses, and partnering with Mobil 1, Bowyer has an arsenal of weapons as he goes into battle for Sunday’s race.