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In The Know – St. Louis

NASCAR CUP SERIES OVERVIEW:

●  Event:  Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter (Round 15 of 36)

●  Time/Date:  3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 4

●  Location:  Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Illinois (near St. Louis)

●  Layout:  1.25-mile oval

●  Laps/Miles:  240 laps/300 miles

●  Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 45 laps / Stage 2: 95 laps / Final Stage: 100 laps

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

SHR FAST FACTS:

Kevin Harvick:

Harvick comes into St. Louis on the cusp of 16,000 laps led in his NASCAR Cup Series career. With his 19 laps led on Monday in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Harvick’s career tally is 15,999 laps led across 804 Cup Series starts. He is a single lap away from being one of just 11 drivers who have led 16,000 laps in their career. Harvick has led 11,584 laps since joining SHR in 2014 (72.4 percent).

Aric Almirola:

This weekend marks the second NASCAR Cup Series race at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Illinois, across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis. Almirola returns to the 1.25-mile oval with confidence after the No. 10 team ran inside the top-five for the majority of the inaugural race last year and brought home a solid fifth-place finish. In addition to the single Cup Series start, his three NASCAR Truck Series starts there add to his confidence, as well. In the 2006 Truck Series race, Almirola started 22nd and finished 10th, he started 15thand earned a solid fourth-place finish in 2009, and in 2010 he started 16th before leading 16 laps and finishing eighth.

Chase Briscoe:  

In his 2017 Truck Series outing at the track, Briscoe led twice for a race-high 88 of 160 laps and finished in the runner-up position. It was his fourth top-five in the first eight races that season. Briscoe went on to win the final race of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and emerged with Rookie of the Year honors and the Most Popular Driver award.

Ryan Preece:

Through the first third of the Cup Series season, Preece has shown improvement and consistency at a variety of racetracks, bringing a heightened sense of motivation and anticipation for the No. 41 team. He had a career weekend at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in April, earning his first Cup Series pole and leading a career-high 135 laps. Since then, although the results haven’t shown it, Preece has started coming into his own.

OUR WEEKLY WRAPS:

WHAT OUR DRIVERS ARE SAYING:

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

The first of your 47 career NASCAR Xfinity Series wins came at Gateway on July 29, 2000. You beat Jeff Purvis by 1.338 seconds. What do you remember about that win?

“The thing I remember the most was that week, Richard (Childress, team owner) brought me into his office and told me that we needed to stop crashing cars and that we needed to figure out how to finish races. I think it was the 12th or 13th race of the season and he was tired of tearing stuff up. And then we go out and win that week and I remember what a relief it was to finally get that first one out of the way. We built a team and had our good moments and bad moments – we missed a race at Rockingham (North Carolina). So we had gone through a lot of things at the beginning of that season and, to finally get that first win, it was really the momentum that finally kicked off all the things that happened after that. From that point forward, Gateway was always a great track for me and we’ve had a lot of success there.”

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

You had a solid race at Gateway last year. Do you look forward to heading back there this weekend?

“I’ve had this race circled on the calendar all year. I love the way this track races and we had a car fast enough to win it last year. Our cars have continued to show consistent speed over the past few weekends, too. If last year was any indication, I think you’re going to see Stewart-Haas up front as we saw in Martinsville – hopefully dominating the race again, which is where we belong. We just have to have a clean day on pit road and I have to do my part.”

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang: 

You’re headed to a track where you had a lot of speed last year, but a blown tire took away a chance at a strong finish. Can you get that finish you know you’re capable of this weekend?

“I think this is a weekend where we can put the pieces together to find that consistency through a race and get a good result. The shorter tracks are places where we can go in, lead a lot of laps and get a lot of stage points, and hopefully win the race. We’re kind of right on that cutline for the playoffs, so winning a race would make life way easier, and this weekend is a great opportunity for us to do that. Last year, we were able to sit on the pole and lead laps before the blown tire, so we know that we have a car and setup that’s capable, it’s just a matter of applying the differences to what this year brings.”

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

You’ve never raced at Gateway. What are your thoughts on the track, and how are you preparing?

“I think Gateway is kind of its own beast, but I do think there are some similarities to other flat ovals that we visit. You know, New Hampshire and Phoenix are two that come to mind. Obviously, New Hampshire is home, so I’ve got a lot of experience there, and Phoenix is where I got my best finish of the season so far, so hopefully that translates to this weekend, too. Both ends of the track are so different at Gateway, but I’ve been taking notes and talking to Chad (Johnston, crew chief) and my teammates about it. We’ll be good to go, and hopefully we’ll unload fast and qualify up front so we can start the race up there and stay there. That’s our goal.”