Month: April 2023

In The Know – Dover

NASCAR CUP SERIES OVERVIEW:

●  Event:  Würth 400 (Round 11 of 36)

●  Time/Date:  2 p.m. EDT on Sunday, April 30

●  Location:  Dover (Del.) Mot or Speedway

●  Layout:  1-mile, concrete oval

●  Laps/Miles:  400 laps/400 miles

●  Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 120 laps / Stage 2: 130 laps / Final Stage: 150 laps

●  TV/Radio:  FS1 / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

SHR FAST FACTS:

Kevin Harvick: 

Harvick has three NASCAR Cup Series wins at Dover. In addition to the aforementioned victories in May 2018 and August 2020, Harvick won his first Dover race in October 2015. Harvick provided a prelude to that win by finishing second when the series raced at the 1-mile, concrete oval five months earlier for the FedEx 400.

Aric Almirola: 

In Almirola’s previous 18 Cup Series starts at Dover, he has two top-five finishes, four top-10s, and he’s led 86 laps. He and the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang team have come oh so close to hoisting the trophy at Dover in the Cup Series. In the fall 2018 race there, he started 11th and gradually made his way into the lead by the final stage. He led a total of 64 laps before a late caution, but contact with the wall while racing aggressively in the closing laps ruined his victory bid and left him with a 13th-place finish. It was the first time the Tampa, Florida, native led laps in the Cup Series on the concrete mile oval

Chase Briscoe:

Briscoe has two Cup Series starts at Dover with a best finish of 13th earned in last year’s event at the concrete mile oval. The No. 14 Mahindra Tractors team finished inside the top-15 in eight of 10 events on tracks measuring 1 mile or less during the 2022 season. The only time Briscoe finished outside the top-15 was when he spun on the last lap of the Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway dirt race while challenging for the lead, and when his car caught on fire at Richmond (Va.) Raceway in August while running in the top-10.

Ryan Preece:  

Preece is coming into his own this season, showing speed on a variety of tracks the series has visited and running up front during multiple events. He had a career weekend at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway a few weeks ago, winning his first Cup Series pole and leading a career-high 135 laps. Preece and the No. 41 team suffered a pit road speeding penalty that ultimately set them back for the remainder of the race. Preece was credited with a 15th-place finish there.

OUR WEEKLY WRAPS:

 

WHAT OUR DRIVERS ARE SAYING:

Kevin Harvick Driver of the No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza/Realtree Ford Mustang: 

You have three NASCAR Cup Series wins at Dover and 23 top-10s. Is there something specific about Dover that augments your driving style?

“Dover is a racetrack that everything about it is unique. The concrete, itself, all the way around the racetrack, is unique. Dover is a racetrack where you can get away with being aggressive every single lap. You have to drive the car as hard as it will go every single lap, and that’s hard to do there because there are all the little bumps that come with the concrete, the change of elevation as you go in and off the corners, and all the banking in the corners – it’s just a really, really fast racetrack. It’s also a very physical racetrack just because of all the G’s and the bouncing and everything that comes with driving around Dover. It’s a racetrack where you have to have your hands gripping on the steering wheel and gritting your teeth all at the same time in order to go fast every single lap. When your car’s off, there’s just nowhere to hide there. You wind up going a lap down, probably two laps down, because you pit early and then the caution comes out. It’s a beast of a racetrack and there’s a reason they call it the Monster Mile because you can get yourself in trouble really quick.”

Aric Almirola Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang: 

Do you enjoy going to Dover?

“I love Dover. It’s the home of my first NASCAR national series win in the East Series, and then I went back there and won in a truck, and I’ve always run really well there in the Xfinity and Cup Series, so I really enjoy going to Dover. A racecar driver is always fond of a place they’re successful at, so having success at Dover is a big part of why I love to go there, and then the racetrack is just a very unique track. It’s the only track we go to where the sensation of speed is really high. A lot of the tracks we go to, we know we’re going fast but it doesn’t feel that fast when you get adapted to it. But at Dover, you really feel like you’re riding a rollercoaster and you get that sensation of speed.”

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

You have a Miles the Monster trophy. Where does it rank in terms of the trophies you’ve earned?:

“The Dover trophy and win are near the top. The first race of the weekend on Saturday was not an easy one for us. We were so fast and we didn’t have the result to go with it. I think there was a little more determination when we got there on Sunday to redeem ourselves and, like I said, you aren’t just getting handed a trophy at Dover. The whole team put in a lot of effort to get us to victory lane that day. We had a lot of big wins in 2020, but that one ranks pretty high on the list.”

Ryan Preece Driver of the No. 41 Mohawk Northeast Ford Mustang: 

You have experience at Dover in your career and you ran the Cup race at the track last season, does that give you any leverage?

“I really enjoy Dover and one of the best parts of it is that it’s a little bit closer to home for me. There’s a sense of familiarity and I love coming from the northeast, so I get excited about heading up there for Dover and other tracks in the area. This is actually a race that I’ve been stressing to Chad (Johnston, crew chief) about. I really felt like we had such a great race car last year. We just never got track position, and we actually had a tire go down a couple times. Then, I believe, when AJ (Allmendinger) lost a tire during the green flag pit cycle, we lost a lap or two and it just kind of put a damper on our day. But from a speed standpoint, we were really fast in practice and had a great race car. I feel like some of the baseline of what we decided to take for this weekend strongly goes off that, and I have high expectations.”

Post Race Report – Talladega

Date:  April 23, 2023

Event:  GEICO 500 (Round 10 of 36)

Series:  NASCAR Cup Series

Location:  Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway

Format:  188 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/60 laps/68 laps)

Note:  Race extended eight laps past its scheduled 188-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Race Winner:  Kyle Busch of Richard Childress Racing

Stage 1 Winner:  Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports

Stage 2 Winner:  Aric Almirola of Stewart-Haas Racing

SHR Race Finish:            

●  Chase Briscoe (Started 4th, Finished 4th / Running, completed 196 of 196 laps)

●  Aric Almirola (Started 2nd, Finished 20th / Running, completed 196 of 196 laps)

●  Kevin Harvick (Started 11th, Finished 21st / Running, completed 196 of 196 laps)

●  Ryan Preece (Started 16th, Finished 34th / Accident, completed 189 of 196 laps)

SHR Points:

●  Kevin Harvick (3rd with 311 points, 20 out of first)

●  Chase Briscoe (15th with 243 points, 88 out of first)

●  Aric Almirola (24th with 170 points, 161 out of first)

●  Ryan Preece (28th with 149 points, 182 out of first)

Briscoe Notes:   

●  Briscoe earned his third top-five and his fourth top-10 of the season. It was also his first top-five and second top-10 in five career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Talladega.

●  This was Briscoe’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was a pair of fifth-place finishes – April 9 on the dirt at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and last Sunday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

●  This was Briscoe’s fifth straight top-15. He finished 15th March 26 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, 12th April 2 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway, fifth April 9 on the dirt at Bristol and fifth last Sunday at Martinsville.

●  Briscoe led one lap, increasing his laps-led total at Talladega to two.

Almirola Notes: 

●  Almirola won Stage 2 to earn 10 bonus points and one playoff point.

●  Almirola led three times for 11 laps to increase his laps-led total at Talladega to 118.

Harvick Notes:  

●  The GEICO 500 marked Harvick’s 800th career NASCAR Cup Series start. He is the 10th driver in NASCAR’s 75-year history to reach this milestone and, at age 47, the fifth-youngest driver to make 800 starts. Harvick joins an impressive lineup that includes Richard Petty (1,185 starts), Ricky Rudd (906), Terry Labonte (890), Dave Marcis (883), Mark Martin (882), Kyle Petty (829), Bill Elliott (828), Darrell Waltrip (809) and Jeff Gordon (805). Harvick is on track to finish the year with 826 career starts, which would put him eighth all-time.

●  Harvick finished third in Stage 2 to earn eight bonus points.

●  Harvick led twice for 11 laps to increase his laps-led total at Talladega to 303.

●  Harvick has now led 11,560 laps since joining SHR in 2014. He has led 15,975 laps in his entire NASCAR Cup Series career.

Preece Notes:     

●  Preece finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points and seventh in Stage 2 to earn four more bonus points.

●  Preece led once for two laps, increasing his laps-led total at Talladega to 14.

Race Notes:       

●  Kyle Busch won the GEICO 500 to score his 62nd career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his second at Talladega. Ryan Blaney finished in the runner-up position as the race ended under caution.

●  Twenty-seven of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

●  There were eight cautions for a total of 34 laps.

●  Christopher Bell remains the championship leader after Talladega with an 11-point advantage over second-place Ross Chastain.

Sound Bites:

“Wild day. I made a huge mistake coming to pit road. We’re two laps down, and then we were one and was going to get the Lucky Dog at the end of Stage 2, and then (Joey) Logano had that speeding penalty and barely got us for the Lucky Dog. It was a battle all day long – very similar to how we kind of were at the end of last year, just continuing to fight and keep doing everything we could to try to maximize our day. At the end, found ourselves up there and in the top-five. I would’ve loved to have a little bit more, but if you told me we were going to finish fourth there – at any point of the race really, even there with 20 (laps) to go. We were so stuck in the back and couldn’t really do anything. So, cool to get this Mahindra ‘Old Goat’ Ford Mustang in the top-five and looking forward to next week.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra TractorsFord Mustang

“There’s so much to be proud of. We had a great racecar and ran up-front, led, was in position all day, and then just Ross (Chastain) doing Ross things on that restart. Wiped out the right side of our car, and either broke something in the right-front suspension or had the right-front tire go flat. So, it took a racecar that had a great shot to win and crashed. That part is frustrating, but we have a lot to be proud of. Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) and these guys gave us an unbelievable speedway car again, and we keep showing up to these places with an opportunity to win. The last few weeks we’ve had really fast racecars and run up front, so at some point we’re going to convert and win us one.” – Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Würth 400 on Sunday, April 30 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway. The race begins at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

In The Know – Talladega

NASCAR CUP SERIES OVERVIEW:

●  Event:  GEICO 500 (Round 10 of 36)

●  Time/Date:  3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, April 23

●  Location:  Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway

●  Layout:  2.66-mile oval

●  Laps/Miles:  188 laps/500 miles

●  Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 60 laps / Stage 2: 60 laps / Final Stage: 68 laps

●  TV/Radio:  FOX / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

SHR FAST FACTS:

Kevin Harvick: 

Harvick has made 44 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Talladega, collecting eight top-fives and 19 top-10s. Denny Hamlin leads the series with 10 top-fives at Talladega while Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano are tied for the second-most top-fives with nine apiece. In the top-10 category, only Busch is ahead of Harvick with 22 top-10s.

Aric Almirola:

In 433 career NASCAR Cup Series starts, Almirola has three wins, 28 top-five finishes, 92 top-10s, three poles, and has led 1,007 laps.

Chase Briscoe:

Now the No. 14 team heads to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, the largest oval on the NASCAR circuit, with a special Mahindra Tractors scheme carrying the theme “You Old Goat,” en hommage to team co-owner Tony Stewart. Over the last two years, the three-time Cup Series champion has shared the spotlight with his driver in Mahindra’s national TV spots, and Briscoe typically has been on the receiving end of Stewart’s jokes. While Briscoe has been known to get in his jabs at the boss, he decided to take it a step further with a scheme designed to show “Smoke” who is really in charge.

 

Ryan Preece:

Preece hopes to ride the momentum from his Martinsville to the high banks of Talladega this weekend, where he has one top-five finish and two top-10s in six career Cup Series career starts with a best finish of third coming in his debut in 2019. In his lone NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Talladega, he started 26th and finished 15th for JD Motorsports in 2016. Last season, Preece made his first NASCAR Truck Series start at Talladega in the No. 17 David Gilliland Racing entry. He started 10th and finished fourth.

OUR WEEKLY WRAPS:

 

WHAT OUR DRIVERS ARE SAYING:

Kevin Harvick Driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang:

Talladega marks your 800th career NASCAR Cup Series start, which puts you 10th all-time. When you first came into racing, did 100 starts even seem like a reality, never mind 800?

“Well, I didn’t even know if I’d get to one (laughs). When you think about 800 races and you try to put it into perspective, you really start adding the years up. It’s a really wide body of work, and I think that’s what I’m the most proud of. Through those 800 starts, it’s not like we started the year cashing checks and just riding around. We’ve been competitive, racing at the front of the pack, leading laps and having the chance to win races. For me, that’s the thing that I’m most proud of, and I think from your colleagues and people from other race teams, they see that body of work and being competitive across that long period of time. You hear it all the time, ‘I can’t believe they’ve been that competitive for that long.’ And to me, that’s the part I’m most proud of, being able to do this at a high level for such a long time. But wrapping your arms around 800 of them is, for me, quite an honor, just because of the fact that you’ve been able to adapt and adjust to so many things and stick around so long. But being competitive is still the thing that I enjoy the most. Getting to that number is great, but getting there and being competitive is better.”

Aric Almirola Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang:

Do you enjoy speedway racing?

“I really enjoy speedway racing. I think, of all of the racing we do, there is a level of confidence that you have to have going into it. For me, I always go into those races with a lot of confidence because I’ve won there before. When you have success at places and you feel like you’re good at it, that confidence bleeds over to your success on the track. I feel like every time we go to Talladega or Daytona we have a really good shot at winning, and I know that at some point in the race we’re going to find ourselves up front and, at that point, you just have to execute.”

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

Where did the idea for this paint scheme come from?

“We all know Tony has done some great things on track, and he was given a lot of opportunities to pick on me a little in all the Mahindra commercials we’ve done, so I really wanted the chance to get back at him a little. He’s a prankster and his brain is always working, always finding a way to make a joke about something, and I felt like this was the perfect way to give him a taste of his own medicine. And it’ll be nice that he gets to watch me drive around Talladega in his car with his face on the side of it.”

Ryan Preece Driver of the No. 41 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang:

What’s it like being a driver at a track like Talladega?

“Your adrenaline is high, your emotions are high and you’re going 200 mph. Meanwhile you’re two, three-wide getting pushed in the pack from behind, there’s just a lot going on. It’s hard to explain to people how many thoughts and things you’re trying to keep track of as a driver when you’re racing at Talladega. Talladega and superspeedway racing have typically been pretty good for me. So, going into this weekend, we need to be aggressive because stage points with the current points system means so much but at the same time, we just have to have a good day.”

Post Race Report – Martinsville

Date:  April 16, 2023

Event:  NOCO 400 (Round 9 of 36)

Series:  NASCAR Cup Series

Location:  Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (.526-mile oval)

Format:  400 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/100 laps/220 laps)

Race Winner:  Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports

Stage 1 Winner:  Ryan Preece of Stewart–Haas Racing (Ford)

Stage 2 Winner:  Kevin Harvick of Stewart–Haas Racing (Ford)

SHR Race Finish:            

●  Chase Briscoe (Started 4th, Finished 5th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)

●  Aric Almirola (Started 3rd, Finished 6th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)

●  Ryan Preece (Started 1st, Finished 15th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)

●  Kevin Harvick (Started 7th, Finished 20th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)

SHR Points:

●  Kevin Harvick (3rd with 287 points, 15 out of first)

●  Chase Briscoe (14th with 210 points, 92 out of first)

●  Aric Almirola (26th with 143 points, 159 out of first)

●  Ryan Preece (27th with 140 points, 162 out of first)

Briscoe Notes:   

●  Briscoe earned his second top-five and third top-10 of the season. It was also his first top-five and third top-10 in five career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville.

●  Briscoe equaled his best result this year. He also finished fifth last Sunday on the dirt at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

●  This was Briscoe’s fourth straight top-15. He finished 15th March 26 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, 12th April 2 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway and fifth last Sunday at Bristol.

●  Briscoe’s fifth-place result bettered his previous best finish at Martinsville – ninth, earned twice (April 2022 and October 2022).

●  Briscoe finished fifth in Stage 1 to earn six bonus points and second in Stage 2 to collect another nine bonus points.

●  Briscoe led twice for 109 laps to increase his laps led total at Martinsville to 134.

Almirola Notes: 

●  Almirola earned his first top-10 of the season and his eighth top-10 in 29 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville.

●  This was Almirola’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 13th, earned April 2 at Richmond.

●  This was Almirola’s fourth straight top-15 at Martinsville. He finished sixth in October 2021, eighth in April 2022 and 15th last October.

●  Almirola finished second in Stage 1 to earn nine bonus points and ninth in Stage 2 to earn two additional bonus points.

Preece Notes:     

●  Preece’s 15th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Martinsville – 16th, earned in March 2019.

●  Preece won Stage 1 to earn 10 bonus points and one playoff point.

●  Preece led once for a race-high 135 laps – his first laps led at Martinsville.

●  Preece led more laps in the NOCO 400 at Martinsville than he had in his entire Cup Series career. Prior to Martinsville, Preece had led just 29 laps in 123 career starts. This is Preece’s first season with SHR.

●  Preece earned his first career Cup Series pole on Saturday during qualifying for the NOCO 400. It was the 58th Cup Series pole for SHR and its second pole in as many days. Cole Custer won the pole on Friday during qualifying for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville. Between Cup and Xfinity, SHR has scored 75 poles in its 15-year history.

Harvick Notes:  

●  Harvick finished sixth in Stage 1 to earn five bonus points. He then won Stage 2 to earn 10 more bonus points and one playoff point.

●  Harvick led twice for 20 laps to increase his laps-led total at Martinsville to 648.

●  Harvick has now led 11,549 laps since joining SHR in 2014. He has led 15,964 laps in his entire NASCAR Cup Series career.

●  Since joining SHR in 2014, Harvick has only one finish outside the top-20 at Martinsville, a span of 19 races.

Race Notes:       

●  Kyle Larson won the NOCO 40 to score his 21st career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his first at Martinsville. His margin over second-place Joey Logano was 4.142 seconds.

●  Twenty-four of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

●  There were five caution periods for a total of 50 laps.

●  Christopher Bell remains the championship leader after Martinsville with a five-point advantage over second-place Ross Chastain.

Sound Bites:

“It would’ve been more of a statement if we won the race, obviously. I thought, as a company, we had a really good day. All four cars were in contention. I felt like a Stewart–Haas car probably should’ve won the race and we just couldn’t catch the breaks we needed there at the end, but, overall, a great day. That’s something that, as a company, we needed to go and run up front. All four cars were really competitive. I wish one of us would’ve won the race, but you’ll have that. We’ll go on to next week and, hopefully, we can continue this speed and this momentum as a company.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang

“It’s crazy that Martinsville is a track-position race. The cars are so close and so competitive. I thought we were, arguably, the best car the first part of the race, and then we got a little bit behind as the track changed and the car changed a little bit. Then after that, we got the car really good. Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) made some great adjustments and I thought we were, arguably, the best car. We went through that green flag pit sequence and then a caution comes out for a wheel and gives a lot of those guys just a free gift that stayed out. A lot of those guys we had lapped already in the race, and it’s just so hard to pass that you give those guys track position and you start behind them on the same tires. It’s hard to pass.” – Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang

“I sped off pit road, I guess. That ultimately cost us the track position. We had a really fast racecar, so once we got in the back it was so hard to do anything, so that’s on me. I’ll take blame for that. I was trying to beat them out and ultimately got snapped speeding. It’s unfortunate, but when we had track position I think it showed that we had a really fast HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang, but you can’t do those things. You can’t make mistakes. I pride myself on not making mistakes, so that was pretty brutal there, but, like I’ve said, we have a fast racecar and really felt like we could’ve probably swept the stages and ran top-three or top-five. We were just as good as anybody, but it’s really tough. Dirty air against the pack. You didn’t want to smash them out of the way, but it was really hard to move around.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the GEICO 500 on Sunday, April 23 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

In The Know – Martinsville

NASCAR Cup Series Overview

●  Event:  NOCO 400 (Round 9 of 36)

●  Time/Date:  3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, April 16

●  Location:  Martinsville (Va.) Speedway

●  Layout:  .526-mile oval

●  Laps/Miles:  400 laps/210.4 miles

●  Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 100 laps / Final Stage: 220 laps

●  TV/Radio:  FS1 / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

SHR FAST FACTS:

Kevin Harvick:

In his 23-year career as a NASCAR Cup Series driver, Harvick has proven to be incredibly consistent at Martinsville. The driver of the No. 4 Realtree/Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) has made 43 Cup Series starts at the .526-mile oval and recorded 20 top-10s, the third-highest tally among active Cup Series drivers. Only Denny Hamlin (23 top-10s) and Kyle Busch (21 top-10s) have more.

Aric Almirola:

In 28 starts, Aric Almirola has earned seven top-10 finishes, one top-five and has led 75 laps on the .526-mile, paperclip-shaped Martinsville (Va.) Speedway oval. He qualified second at Martinsville at last year’s April race.

Chase Briscoe:

Briscoe’s best finishes this season have come on tracks 1 mile or less in length. He finished seventh on the mile oval at Phoenix Raceway on March 12 and 12th two weeks ago on the .75-mile oval at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. Though his most recent finish was on the Bristol half-mile oval, its concrete surface was covered for the lone dirt race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

Ryan Preece:

Preece has tasted success at Martinsville in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and hopes that translates to his No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang this weekend. In his six Modified Tour starts at Martinsville, the 2013 series champion has one win in 2008 to go with two top-fives and 423 laps led, with an average start of 7.8 and an average finish of 13.5. He started on the pole and led a race-high 110 of 200 laps en route to a 12th-place finish in the April 2021 race.

OUR WEEKLY WRAPS:

 

WHAT OUR DRIVERS ARE SAYING:

Kevin Harvick Driver of the No. 4 Realtree/Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang:

Even with a new rules package and the subsequent uncertainty of how the racing will be when you return to Martinsville this weekend, the track has always made drivers feel a bit apprehensive because of its tight confines and close racing. How do you handle racing at Martinsville?

“It’s just a challenging racetrack. Martinsville can eat you up pretty quickly with somebody else’s mistake, or you can get behind pretty quickly. You just have to be able to be aggressive without getting your stuff torn up. If something’s not right, it’ll put you behind in a hurry.”

Aric Almirola Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang:

How do you expect the aero package to affect the racing at Martinsville?

“I don’t know. Martinsville will be hard because the speeds are down. When speeds go down, the downforce is less of a factor, anyway. The 150 mile-per-hour entry speeds at Phoenix versus Martinsville at 120 miles per hour is a big difference in the way the cars drive in traffic. I don’t know that Martinsville will be a huge difference from the old package, but we’ll see.” 

Chase Briscoe Driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.Com Ford Mustang:

The trend of doing well on the short tracks for you and the team has continued this year. Do you feel good about what you’ve learned heading into Martinsville?

“I’m really excited about Martinsville. We definitely have a better grasp of what we need on short tracks than we had before the NextGen and we’ve done really well the last two years. We gambled a little in the fall Martinsville race trying to get into the championship race, but we had a really good car and that’s what allowed us to come out with the finish that we did.”

Ryan Preece Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.Com Ford Mustang:

We’re heading back to another short track, what is the strategy going to be for you and your team?

“We’re putting a huge emphasis on qualifying this weekend. We are going to be focused on practice and seeing where our car stacks up. Hopefully, we’re fast right out the gate and, from there, we’ve got to be strong in qualifying so we can start up front. At a track like Martinsville, we’ve seen it at the other similar tracks this season, you don’t want to start in the back. It’s so hard to pass and move up front when you start in the back at Martinsville. So, we just want to qualify up front and stay there for the race. It’s a long race, so maintaining that track position and staying out of trouble will be really important. I like Martinsville and I have experience there; it goes back to my short-track background and I’m excited to get out there and be in the mix fighting for a grandfather clock.”

Post Race Report – Bristol Dirt

Date:  April 9, 2023

Event:  Food City Dirt Race (Round 8 of 36)

Series:  NASCAR Cup Series

Location:  Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile, dirt oval)

Format:  250 laps, broken into three stages (75 laps/75 laps/100 laps)

Race Winner:  Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing

Stage 1 Winner:  Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports

Stage 2 Winner:  Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing

SHR Race Finish:            

●  Chase Briscoe (Started 14th, Finished 5th / Running, completed 250 of 250 laps)

●  Kevin Harvick (Started 26th, Finished 9th / Running, completed 250 of 250 laps)

●  Ryan Preece (Started 8th, Finished 24th / Running, completed 250 of 250 laps)

●  Aric Almirola (Started 19th, Finished 31st / Running, completed 240 of 250 laps)

SHR Points:

●  Kevin Harvick (3rd with 255 points, 26 out of first)

●  Chase Briscoe (20th with 163 points, 118 out of first)

●  Ryan Preece (27th with 108 points, 173 out of first)

●  Aric Almirola (29th with 101 points, 180 out of first)

SHR Notes:        

●  Briscoe earned his first top-five and second top-10 of the season, It was also his first top-10 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts on dirt at Bristol

●  This was Briscoe’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was seventh March 12 at Phoenix Raceway.

●  This was Briscoe’s third straight top-15. He finished 15th March 26 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, and 12th last Sunday at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.

●  Briscoe finished seventh in Stage 1 to earn four bonus points and sixth in Stage 2 to earn five more bonus points.

●  Harvick earned his fifth top-10 of the season and his first top-10 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts on dirt at Bristol.

●  This was Harvick’s second straight top-10. He finished fifth last Sunday at Richmond.

●  Preece finished fourth in Stage 1 to earn seven bonus points.

●  Almirola finished 10th in Stage 2 to earn a bonus point.

Race Notes:       

●  Christopher Bell won the Food City Dirt Race to score his fifth career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his first on dirt at Bristol.

●  Bell was the seventh different winner in the eight NASCAR Cup Series races run this season.

●  There were 14 caution periods for a total of 73 laps, including the final lap, as the race ended under caution.

●  All but 10 of the 37 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

●  Bell leaves Bristol as the new championship leader with a 13-point advantage over second-place Ross Chastain.

Sound Bites:

“I just needed a little bit more on the top (of the track). I felt like I was OK. I just wasn’t quite as good. I thought the 45 (Tyler Reddick) was definitely probably the best. The 20 (Christopher Bell), I felt like I could kind of pace him, but it was going to be nearly impossible to pass him. There were a couple times I was close in (turns) one and two. I feel like I had my hands tied the whole time. I needed to be a little bit better. Overall, an awesome day for our Magical Vacation Planner Ford Mustang. A good, solid points night for us, which is something we haven’t had all season long. Wish we could’ve gotten the win. I thought it was an awesome race. I hope the fans thought it was, too. I had a lot of fun in the car.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Magical Vacation Planner Ford Mustang

“It just takes me too long to get going. It’s not that we don’t have a good car or can’t do it, it just takes me forever to figure out where I need to be. The more worn out and nasty the racetrack gets, the better I am, but it just took me too long to figure it out.” – Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang

“I think if we could’ve kept track position, we had a top-10 car. But when it got slick like that, I don’t know how many people were actually moving forward, but it was just try and hold on. Those last 75 laps or so, I mean, once you lose track position after Stage 1, man, you guys saw it, guys stayed out and they maintained it. What are you gonna do at that point? I don’t care if Chad (Johnston, crew chief) had a magic wand and I had a special set of tires that were staggered special, it wouldn’t have mattered. You just can’t do anything. There’s no grip anywhere. But that’s the third week in a row we’ve run top-10. It starts with running there to winning races, and we’ve showed speed, so that’s something. You’ve got speed but, ultimately, it’s certainly frustrating when you’re not getting the results of where you’re running and not really due to something that you can really control. But, at the end of the day, the clock resets at midnight. We’re moving forward and we’re gonna go to Martinsville with every bullet loaded, so we’ll be good.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang

“I tried. I was out of my comfort zone already running up there and I was doing way better than I thought I was capable, and I started really getting a feel for it and a rhythm and started to get comfortable. Then I went down into turn one and tried a little bit harder and slid through the cushion and got in the fence and broke the right-rear toe link, and then we lost 10 laps changing the right-rear toe link. I’m just disappointed in myself and mad at myself for throwing away a good finish, but I was trying and just made a mistake.” – Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the NOCO 400 on Sunday, April 16 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

 

In The Know – Bristol Dirt

NASCAR Cup Series Overview:

●  Event:  Food City Dirt Race (Round 8 of 36)

●  Time/Date:  7 p.m. EDT on Sunday, April 9

●  Location:  Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway

●  Layout:  .533-mile, high-banked, dirt oval

●  Laps/Miles: 250 laps/133.25 miles

●  Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 75 laps / Stage 2: 75 laps / Final Stage: 100 laps

●  TV/Radio:  FOX / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

SHR Fast FACTS:

Kevin Harvick:

Harvick has made 42 career NASCAR Cup Series starts on Bristol’s traditional, concrete surface. Despite three wins, 14 top-fives, 22 top-10s and 1,209 laps led at the .533-mile oval since 2001, none of it matters this weekend in the series’ return to Bristol. For the third straight spring race, Bristol’s concrete has been covered with dirt, and Harvick’s past accolades have been buried. The Food City Dirt Race is back.

Aric Almirola:

Beginning in 2006, Almirola had seven annual starts in the Prelude to the Dream charity dirt-racing event that Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Tony Stewart hosted from 2005 to 2012 at his Eldora Speedway half-mile oval in Rossburg, Ohio. Almirola scored a best finish of third and earned four top-10 finishes in those seven outings. Almirola also won an exhibition race at the Talladega (Ala.) Short Track

Chase Briscoe:

The lone dirt race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule takes competitors to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway this weekend, and for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) driver Chase Briscoe, it’s a chance to revisit his roots and seek redemption. The 28-year-old, third-generation racer from Mitchell, Indiana, grew up turning laps on the bullrings in Southern Indiana in cars owned by his grandfather Richard Briscoe and father Kevin Briscoe. Richard was a legendary Sprint car team owner, crew chief and car builder who over time has fielded entries for 37 different drivers, including such renowned wheelmen as Chuck Amati, Dave Blaney, Dick Gaines, Jack Hewitt, Steve Kinser and Rich Vogler. Kevin raced Sprint cars for more than 20 years and won more than 150 feature events. He claimed track championships at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Indiana, and Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway five times, including one streak of three in a row. Now Chase, the youngest Briscoe looks to continue adding to his resume in the highest level of stock car competition.

Ryan Preece:

Ryan Preece is ready to go dirt racing. The driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) will make his second NASCAR Cup Series start on the dirt surface at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Sunday evening. His first dirt race at the track was in the inaugural event in 2021 for JTG Daugherty Racing. He started 22nd and finished 18th. He returns to the track for his first dirt start with SHR.

Our weekly wraps:

What Our Drivers are saying:

Kevin Harvick Driver of the No. 4 Busch Light #Break4Busch Ford Mustang:

We’re back to the dirt at Bristol. Racing on dirt is obviously different, but how different is it when it comes to what you need to do behind the wheel?

“You know, Bristol Dirt was much easier than I anticipated it being because it wasn’t like a normal dirt race. I was expecting a normal dirt race, but when you look at Bristol Dirt and the way the cars drive, it was a lot of the same tendencies that you had with a normal Cup car. Being able to have all my stuff and all of the same tendencies just made it a lot better for me, even with all differences of racing on dirt.”

Aric Almirola Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang:

What do you think of racing on dirt at Bristol? 

“I think it is a really unique race for the fans. I’m a much bigger fan of the original Bristol. It’s one of my favorite tracks on the circuit, so I really enjoyed racing on the concrete twice a year. I know the dirt guys really love it and I just didn’t grow up with a ton of dirt-racing experience. We’ll try to keep it clean and stay out of trouble this weekend in hopes to be up there at the end. This is a wild-card race, so anything can happen.” 

Chase Briscoe Driver of the No. 14 Magical Vacation Planner Ford Mustang:

We saw you take a big gamble on the last lap of last year’s race in an attempt to bring home the win. Would you be up for doing that again?

“I think it just depends on the situation. Last year, we had won at Phoenix and were in way different position, points-wise. I’ve also got a better understanding of how the car will handle if I try that again. I definitely don’t regret trying it. I hate that it went the way it did for Tyler (Reddick), but I think a lot of the moves we make in races are situational and it really just depends on the moment.”

Ryan Preece Driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang:

Can you compare racing on dirt at Bristol to running at any other track on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule?

“Nothing really compares. I don’t think I have anything to compare the dirt at Bristol to. It’s so different than anything else we do and it’s nothing like what I grew up doing, either. I don’t think any asphalt experience is going to translate to Bristol dirt. But I like trying new things and I’m looking forward to it. My team isn’t preparing any differently than how we’ve been preparing all season. We know what we have to do, and we know what’s at stake. Like I said before, we’re on offense right now. Just because we’re at a track that looks different than all the others we go to doesn’t change that. We’ll be as prepared as we can be and use the practice sessions to get a gauge on where our car is at. From there, we’re looking to qualify well and hopefully will be there at the end of the night on Sunday.”

JENSON BUTTON MAKES HIS CUP DEBUT:

Take an inside look at Jenson Button’s NASCAR Cup Series debut at Circuit of the Americas.

Chase Briscoe at Bristol Dirt

Ahead of his return to the Bristol Dirt track, take a look back at Chase Briscoe’s experience in the 2022 event.

Post Race Report – Richmond

Date:  April 2, 2023

Event:  Richmond 400 (Round 7 of 36)

Series:  NASCAR Cup Series

Location:  Richmond (Va.) Raceway (.75-mile oval)

Format:  400 laps, broken into three stages (70 laps/160 laps/170 laps)

Race Winner:  Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports

Stage 1 Winner:  William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports

Stage 2 Winner:  Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing

SHR Race Finish:            

●  Kevin Harvick (Started 10th, Finished 5th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)

●  Chase Briscoe (Started 19th, Finished 12th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)

●  Aric Almirola (Started 32nd, Finished 13th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)

●  Ryan Preece (Started 33rd, Finished 18th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)

SHR Points:

●  Kevin Harvick (5th with 227 points, 36 out of first)

●  Chase Briscoe (21st with 122 points, 141 out of first)

●  Aric Almirola (27th with 94 points, 169 out of first)

●  Ryan Preece (28th with 88 points, 175 out of first)

SHR Notes:        

●  Harvick earned his third top-five and his fourth top-10 of the season. It was also his 18th top-five and series-leading 30th top-10 in 44 career NASCAR Cup Series start at Richmond.

●  Harvick equaled his best result so far this season. He also finished fifth Feb. 26 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, and March 12 at Phoenix Raceway.

●  This was Harvick’s fourth straight top-10 at Richmond. He finished eighth in September 2021, second in April 2022 and he won in the series’ prior visit to the track last August.

●  Harvick finished fourth in Stage 1 to earn seven bonus points and ninth in Stage 2 to earn two more bonus points.

●  This was Briscoe’s second straight top-15. He finished 15th last Sunday at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas.

●  Briscoe finished 10th in Stage 2 to earn a bonus point.

●  This was Almirola’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 21st in the season-opening Daytona 500.

●  This was Almirola’s second straight top-15 at Richmond. He finished eighth last August.

●  Preece’s 18th-place finish bettered his previous best finish at Richmond – 20th, earned twice (April 2019 and September 2020).

Race Notes:       

●  Kyle Larson won the Richmond 400 to score his 20th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his second at Richmond. His margin over second-place Josh Berry was 1.535 seconds.

●  Larson was the sixth different winner in the seven NASCAR Cup Series races run this season.

●  There were eight caution periods for a total of 54 laps.

●  Twenty-four of the 37 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

●  Alex Bowman leaves Richmond as the championship leader with a four-point advantage over second-place Ross Chastain.

Sound Bites:

“We didn’t have a very smooth day and the car didn’t really do anything that I wanted it to do to have a shot at winning, but we fought hard all day. We were definitely expecting to be a little bit better, but that’s the way it goes.” – Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 GEARWRENCH Ford Mustang

“We were just like a 12th-place car all day. The whole day we ran between 10th and 15th and just kind of depended on restarts and pit road. That kind of determined where we would fall out. The long run speed wasn’t probably as good as what we needed it to be, and our short run speed was kind of just OK to kind of hang on. So for how our season has been going, this was honestly a good day – just to kind of run 10th to 15th all day long and not have anything crazy happen. I’m looking forward to next week going to the dirt track, for sure.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang

“We struggled a little bit. I feel like this is one of my better places and I just thought we were a little bit off of where we needed to be. We’ve got some work to do before we come back, but proud to finally get out of a race with a decent day where we didn’t have anything catastrophic happen. We didn’t have everything go perfectly, but we were able to get out of here with a racecar that’s still in one piece and go forward from here. Hopefully, this is the start to turning our season around.” – Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang

“We got a top-20, but our team definitely deserved a top-10 finish. We were in it all day and my guys made great adjustments on our stops. That final caution at the end of the race threw everything off. We only had scuffs at the end and we were just off the pace. We lost a few spots in those final laps and were able to finish off the day 18th. Moving in the right direction and looking forward to Bristol Dirt next week.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Food City Dirt Race on Sunday, April 9 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The race begins at 7 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.