Author: Jess Smith

Cole Custer to honor U.S. Navy SEAL Ryan C. Job for NASCAR’s 600 Miles of Remembrance at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Cole Custer and the No. 41 Feeding America®/Wow Wow Classic Waffles Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) head to the season’s longest NASCAR Cup Series race in two, very important roles: heightening awareness for hunger relief, and honoring a fallen soldier during Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

The dramatic, new paint scheme adorning Custer’s No. 41 Ford this weekend features Wow Wow Classic Waffles on the hood, and the words “Together We’re Feeding America” on both rear quarterpanels in support of Feeding America®, the largest hunger relief organization in the United States with a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs. Fans are encouraged to text HUNGER to 50555 to make a $5 donation to Feeding America®, by visiting the Feeding America® donation page on Facebook, or the donation page via the Feeding America® website. Each $1 donated helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America® on behalf of local member food banks.

Custer and his No. 41 team have already been hard at work helping to feed the area’s hungry. Last week, they gathered at Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina to assemble 1,200 backpacks to be distributed through the food bank’s School Backpack program. On Tuesday participated in a School-based Mobile Pantry in association with Second Harvest, distributing 60- to 70-pounds of food, including Wow Wow Classic Waffles, to some 180 local families in need at Devonshire Elementary School in Charlotte. The school has been hosting regular food distribution events for the past seven years with the help of Second Harvest.

As part of NASCAR’s annual “600 Miles of Remembrance” this weekend, the No. 41 Feeding America®/Wow Wow Classic Waffles Ford will carry the name of U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class (SO2) Ryan C. Job, a Navy SEAL who passed away in 2009 as a result of injuries sustained in action two years prior while fighting the War on Terrorism. Job was critically injured in The Battle of Ramadi on August 2, 2006, when an enemy sniper hit the rifle he was holding, causing the weapon to shatter. Pieces of the weapon pierced his eyes, leaving him permanently blind. The native of Issaquah, Washington, returned home to receive treatment, after which we went on to climb Mount Rainier among other physical achievements. Job passed during a facial reconstruction procedure to repair injuries he suffered in battle.

— True Speed Communication —

Aric Almirola honoring Master-at-Arms Second Class Michael A. Monsoor at Charlotte Motor Speedway

The Memorial Day weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway is one of the most patriotic events in sports, honoring fallen soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country. This weekend, Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), Smithfield Foods, and Aric Almirola will honor Master-at-Arms Second Class (MA2) Michael A. Monsoor, a Navy Seal from Task Unit Bruiser. Monsoor paid the ultimate sacrifice on September 29, 2006 during operation Iraqi freedom. When a grenade was thrown at the rooftop where he and his fellow sailors were positioned, Monsoor jumped on top of the grenade, absorbing the blast and saving them. Two years later, Monsoor was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President George W. Bush in 2008. The USS Michael Monsoor, the second ship in the Zumwalt class of guided missile destroyers, was also named in his honor.

In addition to Monsoor, two other members of Task Unit Bruiser will be honored on the hood of Almirola’s Mustang this weekend – Petty Officer Second Class Ryan C. Job and Petty Officer Second Class Marc A. Lee.

The recommendation to honor Monsoor and Task Unit Bruiser came from Almirola’s longtime partner Smithfield Foods. Dennis Organ, CEO of Smithfield, met Jocko Willink, the commander of Task Unit Bruiser, during a leadership building program hosted by Willink and his company, Echelon Front. Echelon Front’s mission is to educate, train, mentor, and empower leaders and organizations to achieve total victory. Echelon Front applies unmatched leadership experiences in the most dynamic and complex environments to help clients solve problems, overcome obstacles, and win.

In addition to honoring Monsoor and Task Unit Bruiser, SHR will be showing its admiration for all who have made the ultimate sacrifice and the challenges faced by their families by supporting the America’s Mighty Warriors Foundation. Debbie Lee, after the death of her son and Navy Seal Marc Lee, started America’s Mighty Warriors to honor and support troops, veterans and Gold Star families. The foundation provides programs and therapies that improve quality of life, resiliency and recovery after injury or loss. To learn more, request assistance or to find out what can be done to help, visit www.AmericasMightyWarriors.org.

— True Speed Communication —

SHR Post-Race Report: Inaugural EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas

Date: May 23, 2021
Event: Inaugural EchoPark Texas Grand Prix (Round 14 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas (3.426-mile, 20-turn road course)
Format: 68 laps, broken into three stages (15 laps/17 laps/36 laps)
Note: Race shortened 14 laps from its scheduled 68-lap distance due to heavy rain.

Race Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

SHR Race Finish:
● Kevin Harvick (Started 11th, Finished 37th / Accident, completed 19 of 54 laps)
● Cole Custer(Started 14th, Finished 36th / Accident, completed 24 of 54 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 27th, Finished 6th / Running, completed 54 of 54 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 26th, Finished 26th / Running, completed 54 of 54 laps)
SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (8th with 428 points, 169 out of first)
● Cole Custer(27th with 220 points, 337 out of first)
● Chase Briscoe (25th with 237 points, 360 out of first)
● Aric Almirola (28th with 180 points, 417 out of first)

Harvick Notes:
● This was Harvick’s first DNF (Did Not Finish) since Aug. 17, 2019 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, a span of 61 races.

Custer Notes:
● Custer’s day came to an abrupt end before the restart lap could be completed. He made heavy front-end contact on the backstretch with the rear of the slowed car of Martin Truex Jr., reporting later that his visibility was limited due to weather.

Briscoe Notes:
● Briscoe earned his first top-10 in the NASCAR Cup Series, and it came in his 14th career start.
● Briscoe was the highest finishing NASCAR Cup Series rookie.
● This was Briscoe’s best finish so far this season. His previous best result was 11th place, earned twice – April 25 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and May 9 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Almirola Notes:
● Almirola raced in and around the top-20 before the caution was called again for inclement weather on lap 54.

Race Notes:
● Chase Elliott won the inaugural EchoPark Texas Grand Prix to score his 12th career NASCAR Cup Series victory and his first of the season. The race ended under caution due to heavy rain.
● There were six caution periods for a total of 14 laps.
● Thirty-one of the 40 drivers in the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix finished on the lead lap.
● Denny Hamlin remains the championship leader after COTA with a 98-point advantage over second-place William Byron.

COTA Quotes
Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang:
“I’m all good. It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it was going to. You just can’t see anything on that backstretch. Somebody was going slower, and by the time you want to slow down, they’re in your front bumper, so there’s no chance of you even missing it. It’s frustrating, but we’ll move on to the next one.”

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang:
“I always want to do a little better, but running sixth and having a solid day from start to finish, and getting stage points, was what we needed to do. I felt like this was going to be a really good opportunity for our HighPoint.com team, just based off the past when every time we go to a new track it ends up going well for me. I noticed when we’d get some rain that would help, and we just continued to get better throughout the day after starting in the back because of the transmission deal. My background in dirt racing for sure plays a role in that. All the sprint car and dirt car guys always try to figure it out in situations like this when it’s low grip and really slick. We’re so used to having to search around for grip. I don’t think I ran the same line twice, because I was constantly moving around. Tony (Stewart) and Jeff (Gordon) were always good at that, and now you see it with Kyle Larson and those guys that run up front. We fought all day long and had a solid day. We need to do more of that, and hopefully this builds up team confidence heading into Charlotte.”

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, May 30, at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. The race begins at 6 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

SHR Post-Race Report: GEICO 500 at Talladega

Date: April 25, 2021
Event: GEICO 500 (Round 10 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2.66-mile oval)
Format: 188 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/60 laps/68 laps)
Note: Race extended three laps past its scheduled 188-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Race Winner: Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Matt DiBenedetto of Wood Brothers Racing (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing (Toyota)

SHR Race Finish:
● Kevin Harvick (Started 16th, Finished 4th / Running, completed 191 of 191 laps)
● Cole Custer(Started 27th, Finished 10th / Running, completed 191 of 191 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 25th, Finished 11th / Running, completed 191 of 191 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 14th, Finished 15th / Running, completed 191 of 191 laps)

SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (7th with 308 points, 138 out of first)
● Cole Custer(23rd with 178 points, 268 out of first)
● Aric Almirola (26th with 159 points, 287 out of first)
● Chase Briscoe (28th with 155 points, 291 out of first)

Harvick Notes:
● By taking the green flag, Harvick became the all-time leader across NASCAR’s top-three series in total starts with 1,198 starts – 728 Cup Series starts, 346 Xfinity Series starts and 124 Camping World Truck Series starts.
● Harvick earned his third top-five and seventh top-10 of the season, and his eighth top-five and 17th top-10 in 41 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Talladega.
● Harvick finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points.
● Harvick led three times for 12 laps to increase his laps led total at Talladega to 276.
● Harvick has now led 11,168 laps since joining SHR in 2014. He has led 15,594 laps in his entire NASCAR Cup Series career.

Custer Notes:
● Custer earned his first top-10 of the season and his first top-10 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Talladega.
● This was Custer’s best finish so far this season. His previous best result was an 11th-place drive in the season-opening Daytona 500.
● Custer’s 10th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Talladega – 22nd, earned last June.

Briscoe Notes:
● Briscoe was the highest finishing NASCAR Cup Series rookie.
● This was Briscoe’s best finish so far this season. His previous best result was an 18th-place drive Feb. 28 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
● Briscoe led one lap – his first lap led in the Cup Series.

Almirola Notes:
● Since joining SHR in 2018, Almirola has only finished outside the top-15 once at Talladega – a lone 37th-place finish in the series’ prior visit to the track last October.
● Almirola led once for 16 laps to increase his laps led total at Talladega to 71.

Race Notes:
● This was Ford’s 708th all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory and its fourth win of 2021.
● This was Ford’s 31st all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory at Talladega and its 10th in the last 12 races at the 2.66-mile oval. Ford won its first race at Talladega on May 4, 1975 with NASCAR Hall of Famer Buddy Baker.
● There were seven caution periods for a total of 34 laps.
● Only 26 of the 40 drivers in the GEICO 500 finished on the lead lap.
● Denny Hamlin remains the championship leader after Talladega with an 87-point advantage over second-place Martin Truex Jr.

Talladega Quotes

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Dog Brew Ford Mustang:
“We definitely didn’t like to see the ‘22’ flying around in the air right in front of us, but our Busch Dog Brew Ford Mustang was good all day. We raced all day. I kind of slid the left-front (tire) there and got a speeding penalty at one point. We were able to stay on the lead lap, but everybody did a great job. The car is still rolling at the end of two speedway races in a row. I think that’s a first for us. We just need a little bit of momentum. The cars have run well on the speedways. Hopefully, next week we have everything together at Kansas and we can have a good day.”

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang
“We had a fast Smithfield Ford today before a puncture in the nose at the end slowed us down some. Early in the race I had a terrible vibration that felt like it was coming from the driveshaft. I think it was damage on the splitter, so when we’d go to a high speed the vibration picked up. It was good to be there at the end, but we didn’t get the hole we needed to drive back up to the front at the end. On to Kansas to try to pick the momentum back up.”

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang:
“That was the solid race we needed. I think if a thing or two would’ve gone our way on that last restart, we would’ve ended up with an even better finish. But our HaasTooling.com Ford guys did a good job getting us a fast Mustang for this race. We started out a little too free, then we were on the tighter side, and then we got the car about as comfortable as I’ve ever driven on a superspeedway. We’ll take this one and hopefully build some momentum for this next stretch of races. Now, we just have to keep clicking off those top-10s.”

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang:
“Hate that we couldn’t get a top-10 out of it, but honestly, 11th is a great finish. You never know how it’s going to go at Talladega, and I was hoping this could be a race for us to turn things around and get a good finish. Momentum is always a good thing. This is the confidence builder we need heading into the next few races.”

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Buschy McBusch Race 400 on Sunday, May 2 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Hunt Brothers Pizza Unveils “Scan To Win” Experience For Richmond

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing, enters Sunday’s Richmond 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond (Va.) Raceway in a three-way tie for the second-most top-10 finishes this season. Harvick has scored six top-10s in the eight races held this year, tying him with Kyle Larson and William Byron. Only championship leader Denny Hamlin has more top-10s (seven). All four drivers finished in the top-10 in the series’ last race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

Harvick will be going with the flow Sunday at Richmond, Flowcode that is. The hood of Harvick’s No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang will feature a 27.5-inch pizza-inspired, next-generation QR code from Flowcode, the offline to online company that builds direct connections for brands and consumers.

The custom-branded, ultra-fast scanning Flowcode provides Hunt Brothers Pizza with an interactive activation. Just by opening up a smart phone’s camera and scanning the hood of Harvick’s No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang whenever it’s prominently featured during FOX’s broadcast of the 400-lap race will give users a “Scan to Win” experience with instant and direct access to win prizes. The grand prize is two tickets to a NASCAR Cup Series race of the winner’s choosing during the 2021 or 2022 season. Twelve additional winners will receive a fan pack loaded with Harvick and Hunt Brothers Pizza merchandise including T-shirts, hats, floor mats, racing flags and koozies.

Viewers can scan the Flowcode directly from their TV screen. There’s no need to hit pause on the racing action. The “Scan to Win” Flowcode will also be featured on the in-car camera that Harvick will carry with him during the Richmond 400.

Harvick has made 726 career NASCAR Cup Series starts, with 119 of those starts coming on short tracks. And of his 58 Cup Series wins, seven have been at short tracks, with Richmond accounting for three of those victories. Harvick scored his first Richmond win in September 2006, his second in September 2011 and his third in April 2013.

Hunt Brothers Pizza is the nation’s largest brand of made-to-order pizza in the convenience store industry and has sponsored Harvick for years in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Hunt Brothers Pizza joined Harvick fulltime in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2019 and has been a mainstay in NASCAR’s premier division ever since. With more than 7,800 locations in 30 states, Hunt Brothers Pizza offers original and thin-crust pizzas available as a grab-and go Hunk, perfect for today’s on-the-go lifestyle or as a customizable whole pizza that is an exceptional value with All Toppings No Extra Charge®. Celebrating 30 years of serving great pizza to convenience store shoppers through its store partners, Hunt Brothers Pizza is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, and is family owned and operated. To find a Hunt Brothers Pizza location near you, download the app by visiting app.HuntBrothersPizza.com.

SHR Post-Race Report: Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville

Date: April 10-11, 2021
Event: Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 (Round 8 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (.526-mile oval)
Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (130 laps/130 laps/240 laps)
Race Winner: Martin Truex Jr., of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)

SHR Race Finish:
● Kevin Harvick (Started 9th, Finished 9th / Running, completed 500 of 500 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 26th, Finished 18th / Running, completed 500 of 500 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 31st, Finished 20th / Running, completed 499 of 500 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 24th, Finished 27th / Running, completed 491 of 500 laps)

SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (8th with 253 points, 126 out of first)
● Cole Custer (24th with 137 points, 242 out of first)
● Chase Briscoe (27th with 114 points, 265 out of first)
● Aric Almirola (28th with 105 points, 274 out of first)

Race Notes:
● The Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 began on Saturday night and 42 laps were completed before rain washed over the .526-mile oval, forcing NASCAR to postpone the remainder of the race to Sunday.
● Harvick earned his sixth top-10 of the season and his 20th top-10 in 40 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville.
● There were 15 caution periods for a total of 102 laps.
● Only 18 of the 37 drivers in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 finished on the lead lap.

Martinsville Quotes

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 NA Ford Mustang:
“We just maintained today. I got one good restart and then went too loose at the end.”

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang:
“I’m not sure what it’s going to take to have our luck change, but I sure hope it’s soon. We ran so aggressively and so well, and it felt like we just had a magnet on the left-rear quarter panel. We stayed in the lead lap there in the first stage, and I felt like we had a solid car to work with. Then we got jammed up and I got pushed into another car that tore up the front end. We couldn’t catch a break all day. After all of that we still had a top-10 Smithfield Anytime Favorites Ford. We were in the Lucky Dog position there at the end and couldn’t get a caution to get us back in contention. We’re keeping our heads up and waiting for the bad luck to end.”

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang:
“That was a typical Martinsville race. It’s a long race, a tough race, a long two days, it felt like. Our biggest issue was trying to find the drive off the corners that we needed. We got our HaasTooling.com Ford pretty decent in that respect by the middle of the last stage. We managed to get through that big wreck in better shape than a lot of other folks, and for some reason the car got worse during the last run, but we were able to get 18th place out of it.”

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang:
“I’m not really sure what went wrong there with 100 laps to go. Something just felt off after we got pushed up off the bottom and started falling back. The team did a really good job of sticking with it and coming back from two laps down. Johnny (Klausmeier, crew chief) called for some really good adjustments, and we had a great short-run car. It just started to get a little free, and we never got a chance to work on it.”

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Richmond 400 on Sunday, April 18 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

SHR Post-Race Report: Food City Dirt Race at Bristol

Date: March 29, 2021
Event: Food City Dirt Race (Round 7 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile, high-banked, dirt oval)
Format: 250 laps, broken into three stages (100 laps/100 laps/50 laps)
Note: Race extended three laps past its scheduled 250-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Race Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Martin Truex Jr., of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)

SHR Race Finish:
● Kevin Harvick (Started 6th, Finished 15th / Running, completed 253 of 253 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 25th, Finished 20th / Running, completed 252 of 253 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 21st, Finished 24th / Running, completed 252 of 253 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 23rd, Finished 36th / Accident, completed 39 of 253 laps)

SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (8th with 225 points, 102 out of first)
● Cole Custer (23rd with 118 points, 209 out of first)
● Chase Briscoe (27th with 104 points, 223 out of first)
● Aric Almirola (28th with 88 points, 239 out of first)

Race Notes:
● This was the first dirt race in the NASCAR Cup Series since Sept. 30, 1970 at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh where NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty took the 117th of his record 200 career NASCAR Cup Series wins.
● Joey Logano won the Food City Dirt Race to score his 27th career NASCAR Cup Series victory and his first of the season. His margin over second-place Ricky Stenhouse Jr., was .554 of a second.
● Briscoe was the highest finishing NASCAR Cup Series rookie for the sixth straight race.
● This was Ford’s 707th all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory and its third win of 2021. It is the manufacturer’s 101st all-time dirt victory, with Logano being the 30th different driver to win a Cup Series dirt race in a Ford. NASCAR Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett, who is Ford’s all-time leader in Cup wins with 43, also holds the record for most dirt wins for Ford with 26.
● There were 10 caution periods for a total of 37 laps.
● Only 19 of the 39 drivers in the Food City Dirt Race finished on the lead lap.

Bristol Dirt Quotes

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang:
“It was so cool to be a part of something this historic. It was definitely uncharted territory to put our Cup cars on dirt. But everybody did their best to adapt to everything that happened throughout the weekend, and I think the fans got a new kind of show. Looking forward to taking what everybody learned this weekend and making everything better for when we come back next year. I think our HaasTooling.com Ford team did its best to deal with everything that was thrown at us. Our biggest issues turned out to be trying to find forward bite on the straightaways and finding ways to tighten up the car. We now have a notebook to work with for next time.”

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang:
“The No. 77 slipped off the bottom. I was hunting the bottom, and he slipped off the bottom. I was trying to get in between him and the silly humps there, and he turned back down across my nose and hit me in the right-front and kind of ran me up over the dirt hump, and I spun. You can’t stop. You can’t see. That’s honestly the biggest problem. In dirt racing, you don’t have a windshield in front of you, so you can pull a tear off (of your helmet visor). We can’t reach out there and pull a tear off of our windshield, so you can’t see anything. Everybody just comes piling in, because you can’t see. Right before that, we started to put down solid lap downs.”

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang:
“That was not the race we wanted for our HighPoint.com Ford Mustang. Obviously, we had high expectations for this weekend. After running the Truck Series race earlier today I knew it was going to be a challenge. A lot of what happened there was out of our control with the accidents. We actually were heading in the right direction there in Stage 2 but, once again, got hit from behind and just never really recovered from it. I’m just looking forward to the week off before we head to Martinsville.”

Next Up:
The NASCAR Cup Series takes a rare weekend off before returning to action April 10 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway for the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. The race begins at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

SHR Post-Race Report: Folds Of Honor 500 at Atlanta

Date: March 21, 2021
Event: Folds of Honor 500 (Round 6 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway (1.54-mile oval)
Format: 325 laps, broken into three stages (105 laps/105 laps/115 laps)

Race Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

SHR Race Finish:
● Kevin Harvick (Started 7th, Finished 10th / Running, completed 325 of 325 laps)
● Cole Custer(Started 27th, Finished 18th / Running, completed 324 of 325 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 16th, Finished 20th / Running, completed 324 of 325 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 24th, Finished 23rd / Running, completed 323 of 325 laps)

SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (6th with 203 points, 74 out of first)
● Cole Custer (22nd with 105 points, 172 out of first)
● Aric Almirola (26th with 87 points, 190 out of first)
● Chase Briscoe (27th with 87 points, 190 out of first)

Race Notes:
● Harvick earned his fifth top-10 of the season and his series-leading 16th top-10 in 31 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Atlanta.
● This was Harvick’s seventh straight top-10 at Atlanta. He hasn’t finished outside the top-10 since a lone 19th-place finish in August 2014.
● Harvick has finished among the top-10 in 14 of his last 17 starts at Atlanta, a run that began with a seventh-place drive in March 2008.
● This is Harvick’s second straight top-10. He finished sixth in last week’s race at Phoenix Raceway.
● Custer’s 18th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Atlanta – 19th, earned in his first NASCAR Cup Series start at the track last June.
● There were five caution periods for a total of 25 laps.
● Only 14 of the 39 drivers in the Folds of Honor 500 finished on the lead lap.
● Denny Hamlin remains the championship leader after Atlanta with a 43-point advantage over second-place Larson.

Atlanta Quotes

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang:
“Well, that was definitely not the result we wanted, but I would call it a solid day in a lot of respects. We made improvements on our HaasTooling.com Mustang all day but just couldn’t get going on the restarts for the life of me. Still, proud of all the hard work by Mike (Shiplett, crew chief) and everyone on this HaasTooling team. This is a tough track to get your car right. We’ll go get ’em on the dirt at Bristol next week.”

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Pit Boss Grills Ford Mustang:
“We battled handing issues all day. Our Pit Boss Ford Mustang just didn’t have the handling on the restarts and couldn’t hold up on the long run. If we helped the restarts, we hurt the long run. We tried a few different adjustments, and nothing really helped us. It was another character building race that we’ll learn and grow from. We’re not running to our potential yet, and we have a long season ahead with a lot of hard-working people. On to Bristol on dirt.

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com/CO-OP Financial Services Ford Mustang:
“Our balance was kind of off all day, but our HighPoint.com/CO-OP Financial Services Ford Mustang was pretty good that last run. We were just too far behind to do much with it by then. Other than that, we had a nice clean race and we’ve learned a lot that we’ll be able to bring back in July. I’m pretty excited to get to Bristol and do some dirt racing next week. Maybe that’s what we need to turn things around.”

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Food City Dirt Race on Sunday, March 28 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

SHR Post-Race Report: Instacart 500K at Phoenix

 

Date: March 14, 2021
Event: Instacart 500k (Round 5 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Phoenix Raceway (1-mile oval)
Format: 312 laps, broken into three stages (75 laps/115 laps/122 laps)

Race Winner: Martin Truex Jr., of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)

SHR Race Finish:
● Kevin Harvick (Started 18th, Finished 6th / Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 32nd, Finished 11th / Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 26th, Finished 22nd / Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 24th, Finished 31st / Running, completed 308 of 312 laps)

SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (7th with 176 points, 60 out of first)
● Cole Custer (20th with 86 points, 150 out of first)
● Chase Briscoe (25th with 73 points, 163 out of first)
● Aric Almirola (26th with 70 points, 166 out of first)

Race Notes:
● Harvick earned his fourth top-10 of the season and his series-leading 26th top-10 in 37 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix.
● This was Harvick’s 16th straight top-10 at Phoenix. He hasn’t finished outside the top-10 since a lone 13th-place finish in March 2013.
● Harvick finished seventh in Stage 1 to earn four bonus points and sixth in Stage 2 to earn five more bonus points.
● Almirola’s 11th-place finish was his best so far this season.
● This was Almirola’s third straight top-15 at Phoenix.
● Almirola finished eighth in Stage 2 to earn three bonus points.
● Briscoe was the highest finishing NASCAR Cup Series rookie.
● There were seven caution periods for a total of 45 laps.
● Twenty-four of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

Phoenix Quotes

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Mustang:
“We struggled on the restarts and we just could never get the track position. After seven or eight laps, it felt like our Jimmy John’s Ford Mustang was good enough to run in the top-three, but we could never get going on the restarts to be able to get that track position.”

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Pit Boss Grills Ford Mustang:
“Finally, a solid day. Proud of my team. We ran in the top-10 most of the day and had a really good Pit Boss Grills Ford on the longer runs. And then there at the end it turned out to be two short runs. All in all, a great day, turned all the bad races around and almost got a top-10. Thanks so much to Pit Boss Grills and representing the Pro Series on the car. That was fun to run up front, be competitive and get out of here with a solid finish. We made some hay and a little ground on the points situation, and we’re going to have a lot better starting spot and pit selection going to Atlanta. We’ll keep this momentum going next week, where we’re running another Pit Boss Grills Ford.”

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang:
“We didn’t unload how we wanted and it’s a shame to have something like that happen after we worked so hard to get our HaasTooling.com Mustang running to where we were in the mix and could compete for top-10. I hate it for the guys. It wasn’t the finish we deserved, that’s for sure, but we’ve got some ideas for how to get things turned around.”

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang:
“The results don’t show how strong our HighPoint.com Ford Mustang was today. We have a lot we need to work on, but to run up front for a while in the final stage was really encouraging. We drove from the back to the top-10 twice, but problems with the pit guns and jack on our stops really held us back from the finish we deserved. We’ve just got to stay patient and focused, and we’ll have a race where it all comes together soon enough.”

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Folds of Honor 500 on Sunday, March 21 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

SHR Post-Race Report: Las Vegas 400

Date: March 7, 2021
Event: Las Vegas 400 (Round 4 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/80 laps/107 laps)

Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

SHR Race Finish:
● Kevin Harvick (Started 1st, Finished 20th / Running, completed 266 of 267 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 24th, Finished 21st / Running, completed 266 of 267 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 20th, Finished 25th / Running, completed 266 of 267 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 28th, Finished 38th / Accident, completed 178 of 267 laps)

SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (7th with 136 points, 51 out of first)
● Cole Custer (19th with 80 points, 107 out of first)
● Chase Briscoe (26th with 58 points, 129 out of first)
● Aric Almirola (28th with 41 points, 146 out of first)

Race Notes:
● Briscoe was the highest finishing NASCAR Cup Series rookie.
● The Las Vegas 400 marked Briscoe’s fourth career NASCAR Cup Series start and his first at Las Vegas.
● There were six caution periods for a total of 30 laps.
● Only 14 of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

Las Vegas Quotes

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang:
“That was not the day we were looking for. It was a struggle all day to find rear grip, and we couldn’t attack the corners the way we wanted to on entry and exit. We’ll do everything we can to improve our performance for the next one. We have a lot of season left.”

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Mustang:
“It felt like every race so far I’ve learned a ton just throughout the race. Obviously I wish I could start the race kind of where I end, knowing what I need from a speed standpoint. I feel like I learned a lot today, and hopefully when we come back here it’ll help. It’s just hard with no practice to show up and go, but I feel like we made gains on it, and right now I feel that’s the most important thing.”

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Instacart 500k on Sunday, March 14 at Phoenix Raceway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.