Category: NASCAR Cup PR

NOAH GRAGSON
Phoenix Advance
No. 10 SERVPRO Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Event Overview

● Event: Shriners Children’s 500k (Round 4 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, March 10
● Location: Phoenix Raceway
● Layout: 1-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 312 laps/312 miles (502 kilometers)
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 60 laps / Stage 2: 125 laps / Final Stage: 127 laps
● TV/Radio: FOX / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● From the ashes of a 36th-place finish in the second NASCAR Cup Series race of the year at Atlanta Motor Speedway that nullified a strong ninth-place drive from the season-opening Daytona 500, Noah Gragson rose like a Phoenix last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 10 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing scratched and clawed his way from 30th on the grid to finish an impressive sixth at the end of the 267-lap race. It was his first step out of the points hole that left him last in the championship standings after Atlanta. Gragson’s Las Vegas exploits allowed him to climb eight spots in points to 34th heading into this weekend’s Shriners Children’s 500k at Phoenix Raceway.

● The Shriners Children’s 500k will serve as Gragson’s second career NASCAR Cup Series start at Phoenix. He finished 29th in his first Cup Series race at the desert mile last March during his rookie campaign with LEGACY MOTOR CLUB.

● The bulk of Gragson’s experience at Phoenix has come in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the stepping-stone division to the elite NASCAR Cup Series. From 2019 through 2022, Gragson made eight career Xfinity Series starts at Phoenix and had only one finish outside the top-12. His five top-10s were punctuated by three top-two finishes, a mark highlighted by Gragson’s win in March 2022. It was a race he thoroughly dominated as Gragson started second and then led seven times for a race-high 114 laps, including the final 15 to beat runner-up Brandon Jones by 2.555 seconds.

● In Gragson’s final Xfinity Series race at Phoenix in November 2022, he was competing for the series title. Gragson was in the Championship 4 with Ty Gibbs, Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry. Gragson qualified fourth and finished second, but in the winner-take-all format, polesitter Ty Gibbs finished the race exactly where he started to take the championship by five points over Gragson. Today, Gibbs, Gragson and Berry are all in the NASCAR Cup Series, with Berry in his rookie season as a teammate to Gragson at Stewart-Haas.

● Gragson has also made three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts at Phoenix with his best finish coming in his most recent Truck race at the track – second in November 2018. Gragson finished 16th in his first Truck Series race at Phoenix in November 2016, but when he returned for his last two Truck Series starts in 2017 and 2018, Gragson was a contender. He qualified second in 2017 and led four times for 55 laps before getting caught up in a late-race accident that left him 15th. A year later, Gragson qualified on the pole and led twice for 43 laps before finishing .456 of a second behind race-winner Brett Moffitt.

● Gragson’s first Phoenix start came back in November 2015 when he competed in the NASCAR K&N Series West, known today as the ARCA Menards Series West. It was a disappointing outing as Gragson qualified 20th and finished 14th, and in a season where he battled for the championship with Chris Eggleston, Ryan Partridge and Gracin Raz, the result left Gragson seven points shy of the title. However, Gragson handily secured the rookie-of-the-year crown.

● Joining Gragson at Phoenix is SERVPRO, a leader in property cleanup, restoration and construction. For more than 50 years, SERVPRO has been a trusted leader in fire and water cleanup and restoration services, construction, mold mitigation, biohazard, and pathogen remediation. SERVPRO’s professional services network of more than 2,200 individually owned and operated franchises spans the United States and Canada, responding to property damage emergencies large and small – from million-square-foot commercial facilities to individual homes. When disaster strikes, homeowners, business owners and major insurance companies rely on SERVPRO to help make it “Like it never even happened.”

Noah Gragson, Driver of the No. 10 SERVPRO Ford Mustang Dark Horse

You only have one NASCAR Cup Series start at Phoenix, but you still have plenty of experience there with eight Xfinity Series starts, three Truck Series starts and one K&N West start. Talk about your career progression at Phoenix – how you’ve learned and developed overall, and what you’ve learned by making laps at that track.

“I first started going there in 2015 for the K&N West championship race. Didn’t run great there, thought I hated the place, and then ran pretty good in the Trucks, and didn’t run too good there in Xfinity, but started running really good and ended up winning a race there in Xfinity and got a lot of second-place finishes, third-place finishes there. The Cup Series race was really bad there last year. Looking forward to how the No. 10 SERVPRO Ford Mustang drives there at Phoenix. It’s a fun track, it’s a challenging track, and it always seems like it’s different, the way the sticky stuff is sprayed down in the corners. But it always puts on a good show for the fans.”

Eventually winning in your hometown of Las Vegas is probably at the top of your priority list, but winning at Phoenix has got to be a close second, as it’s somewhat close to your roots. You did exactly that in March 2022 when you won the Xfinity Series race at Phoenix. What was that sense of accomplishment like?

“Phoenix is super important and special because it’s the host of the championship race. You just know that you’re going to have more confidence if you can be in that final four to go have a shot at a championship. We didn’t get it done in the championship race there in 2020, but it is a special track. There are a lot of friends and family that come down from Vegas. It’s a short drive, only about four hours. It’s a lot of fun to be able to just go out there and have the support. You get a lot of the same Vegas crowd of fans that come to Phoenix. It’s a good time and the weather’s always good there, too.”

You’ve competed in four different series at Phoenix. Did you have to adjust your driving style to each kind of vehicle you drove around that track, or were there similarities with each that made the learning curve at Phoenix a little less steep?

“I feel like they’re all different until you dial in the setup to what suits you. Once you can get the setup dialed in and figure out what you want, then you can just drive it the same way.”

How different was the Cup Series car at Phoenix compared to what you’ve raced there in the past?

“It was a little bit different. It’s pretty similar, but the biggest difference is the shifting every lap, and it’s really tough to pass.”

Restarts at Phoenix can be a little crazy. How crazy are they, and when is it smart to cut through the dogleg and when is it a riskier proposition?

“I’m not really a fan of cutting the dogleg. I like staying up and getting my speed up to angle into turn one. You feel like you usually cut through the dogleg, but your entry into turn one that way – you’re so low on the racetrack that you never get out to the outside wall to arc the car. I’ve never really liked going down there, especially in the Cup cars – it seems super sketchy to cross down there. But at the same time, it’s one of those things that, situationally, you might need to go down there sometimes, but I’ve always focused on the exit of turn two on restarts there.”

You cut through the dogleg and you’re carrying a bunch of speed – what do you need to do to get slowed down enough to make that first corner, which just got a whole lot tighter because you cut the corner – and how do you merge into traffic with those who stayed on the track and arced their way into turn one?

“A lot of it is based on hope. You hope they don’t slide up in front of you, or you hope they have you cleared and they keep on sliding up and up and up and you’re already turning on the gas. Each guy does it differently, which is what makes it pretty crazy. You see in Trucks, Xfinity and Cup, they’re always four-, five-, six-wide. I think in the Truck race last year they were eight-wide, which might be the record in NASCAR for side-by-sides. Overall, it’s pretty chaotic. It’s pretty wild.”

What did you not like about cutting through the dogleg?

“Just that I’ve always felt like I was never in control. I’d end up in the center of the corner or I’d have to lift way too long and too much to get the thing to stick on the bottom after entering so low and straight. I just never felt like I was in position to grab the bull by the horns. I always felt like I was putting myself in a bad position. I can control it more if I just arc the corner.”

We talked about how Las Vegas is a litmus test in terms of where teams stack up with one another. Is that the case for Phoenix as well, at least in terms of how your short-track package stacks up, and is there an element of urgency because Richmond and Martinsville are only two and three weeks away, respectively?

“I think all of them are pretty important. When you start going there the second time, it’s important to get solid runs. Just learning the rules package and where the car has its strengths and weaknesses, different aero position, setup-wise is this going to work, downforce and stuff? I don’t know. That’s why it’s important to get notes and regroup afterward and come up with the best solution possible.”

No. 10 SERVPRO Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Noah Gragson

Hometown: Las Vegas

Crew Chief: Drew Blickensderfer

Hometown: Decatur, Illinois

Car Chief: Jerry Cook

Hometown: Toledo, Ohio

Engineer: James Kimbrough

Hometown: Pensacola, Florida

Spotter: Andy Houston

Hometown: Hickory, North Carolina

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Ryan Mulder

Hometown: Sioux Center, Iowa

Rear Tire Changer: Trevor White

Hometown: Arlington, Texas

Tire Carrier: Tyler Bullard

Hometown: King, North Carolina

Jack Man: Sean Cotten

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Fuel Man: James “Ace” Keener

Hometown: Fortuna, California

Road Crew Members

Mechanic: Chris Trickett

Hometown: Grafton, West Virginia

Mechanic: Beau Whitley

Hometown: Carmel, Indiana

Tire Specialist: Jacob Cooksey

Hometown: Westbrookville, New York

Engine Tuner: Matt Moeller

Hometown: Monroe, New York

Transporter Co-Driver: Steve Casper

Hometown: Salisbury, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Matt Murphy

Hometown: Augusta, Georgia

Phoenix I Event Info:
Date: Sunday, March 10
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Avondale, Arizona
Format: 312 Laps, 312 miles, Stages: 60-125-127
TV: FOX
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)

Weekend Schedule:
Friday: 5:05 p.m. ET, Practice (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 2:10 p.m. ET, Qualifying (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 3:30 p.m. ET, Race (FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Pace Laps:

• Phoenix hosts its annual spring date this weekend for the fourth points race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.
• Phoenix is the site of seven of Jack Roush’s Cup wins all-time, and 17 wins across NASCAR’s three series.
• Chris Buescher is coming off a top five effort in the desert in the season finale a year ago where he led 18 laps and finished fifth.
• Consumer Cellular makes its season debut alongside Keselowski and the No. 6 team.

6 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Matt McCall
Partner: Consumer Cellular

17 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: BuildSubmarines.com

Keselowski at Phoenix
Starts: 29
Wins: —
Top-10s: 13
Poles: 2 (2014, 2021)

• Keselowski makes his 30th Cup start in Phoenix this weekend where he has 13 top-10s with an average finish of 13.9. Most recently he finished 15th last fall and 18th in the 2023 spring race.
• He’s led 284 laps in 15 different Phoenix races and has six top-10s in the spring race alone at the 1-mile track.
• Keselowski has two poles (2014, 2021) with an average starting position of 13.8, and is coming off a fourth-place qualifying effort last spring.
• He is a two-time Xfinity Series winner in Phoenix including winning the 2018 race in the No. 22 entry, and in 2014 for Team Penske. Overall he has 21 NXS starts with 5 top-10s. He also made two Truck Series starts in 2005 and 2008 with a best finish of sixth in his own No. 19 truck for BKR.

Buescher at Phoenix
Starts: 16
Wins: —
Top-10s: 1
Poles: —

• Buescher makes his 17th Cup start in Phoenix this weekend. He’s coming off his career-best finish there last fall where he finished fifth in the season finale after starting ninth. Last spring he ran 15th after starting 21st.
• Buescher has an average starting position of 24.1 with the P9 start last fall as his best.
• Buescher also made four Xfinity Series starts in Arizona for Jack Roush with a best finish of 12th (2014).

RFK Historically at Phoenix
Cup Wins: 7 (Mark Martin, 1993; Jeff Burton, 2000, 2003; Matt Kenseth, 2002; Kurt Busch, 2005; Carl Edwards, 2010, 2013)

• Hooked on Phoenix: RFK has 305 combined starts at Phoenix, totaling 17 wins, 76 top-five and 136 top-10 finishes. RFK Fords have nine poles and have led 4,050 laps at the 1-mile track.
• Winning in the Desert: RFK has won at Phoenix in all three of NASCAR’s major divisions, with the organization’s first win coming in the fall of 1993 with NASCAR Hall of Famer and former driver Mark Martin in the NCS. RFK won the second-ever NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix in 2000 and former driver Greg Biffle claimed the organization’s 100th overall NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Phoenix in 2009.
• Former driver Carl Edwards also won at the track that fall to give RFK the season sweep. All in all, six drivers have won NASCAR races for RFK at Phoenix (Martin, Biffle, Edwards, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Joe Ruttman). In addition, Edwards swept Phoenix in the fall of 2010, winning both the NXS and NCS events.
• Xfinity Success: Phoenix was one of the strongest tracks for RFK’s Xfinity program. In 93 starts, the organization won eight times, earned 27 top-fives, 53 top-10s and has led 1,406 laps. RFK most recently went to victory lane with Edwards in Nov. 2010. Its eight wins rank most of any track on the circuit behind only Charlotte (12), Darlington (15), Richmond (9) and Rockingham (10).
• Tale of the Tape: RFK has started 176 NCS races at Phoenix, recording a total of seven victories, 36 top-five finishes, 62 top-10 finishes, four poles and has led 2,310 laps. Edwards earned RFK’s most recent victory at Phoenix in the March 2013 event.

RFK Phoenix Wins

1993 Martin Cup

1997-2 Ruttman Truck

2000 Burton Cup

2000 Burton NXS

2001 Biffle Truck

2001 Burton Cup

2001 Biffle NXS

2002 Kenseth Cup

2005-1 Busch Cup

2005-2 Edwards NXS

2006-2 Kenseth NXS

2008-2 Edwards NXS

2009-1 Biffle NXS

2009-2 Edwards NXS

2010-2 Edwards Cup

2010-2 Edwards NXS

2013-1 Edwards Cup

Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Las Vegas: Keselowski pulled through a P13 finish last weekend in Las Vegas, while Buescher was inside the top-10 early and lost a tire to finish 37th.

Points Standings (17: 23rd, 6: 28th): Keselowski jumped six spots after his first finish of the season.

CHASE BRISCOE
Phoenix Advance
No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Event Overview

● Event: Shriners Children’s 500k (Round 4 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, March 10
● Location: Phoenix Raceway
● Layout: 1-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 312 laps/312 miles (502 kilometers)
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 60 laps / Stage 2: 125 laps / Final Stage: 127 laps
● TV/Radio: FOX / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● It was a tale of two races for Chase Briscoe last Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing was a top-10 mainstay for the first half of the Las Vegas 400, but after midrace contact with the Ford of Ryan Blaney, Briscoe’s Mustang became a handful. With lap times suddenly a half-second slower, Briscoe went from contention to contraction. After leading the 37-car field on lap 16 and staying tight with the other frontrunners, Briscoe finished the 267-lap race a distant 21st. The silver lining was that the 1.5-mile Las Vegas oval was the first litmus test of the 2024 season where teams could see where they stacked up with one another. Briscoe’s pace at the race’s onset combined with the sixth-place finish of teammate Noah Gragson proved Stewart-Haas is pointed in the right direction.

● The Shriners Children’s 500k this Sunday at Phoenix Raceway will mark Briscoe’s seventh career NASCAR Cup Series start at the 1-mile oval. He is batting .500 at the track when it comes to top-10s with three finishes of seventh or better. However, those runs are juxtaposed by three other results outside the top-20.

● Briscoe’s best result at Phoenix is the best kind of result – a victory, and it wasn’t just any victory. In his 40th career NASCAR Cup Series start and just his third at Phoenix, Briscoe held off Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain and the all-time winningest driver in NASCAR history at Phoenix, Kevin Harvick, to win his first Cup Series race. Briscoe had earned the right to fight for the win even before some late-race teeth gnashing brought on by a green-white-checkered finish. Briscoe started sixth and led three times for 101 laps before taking the checkered flag with a .771 of a second margin over runner-up Chastain. In addition to the triumph being Briscoe’s maiden Cup Series win, the native of Mitchell, Indiana, also became the 200th different race winner in Cup Series history.

● DYK? When Briscoe scored his first NASCAR Cup Series win at Phoenix on March 13, 2022, he became just the third driver to win his first race at Phoenix, joining NASCAR Hall of Famer Alan Kulwicki (1988) and Bobby Hamilton (1996).

● With 109 different drivers having piloted a No. 14 car in the NASCAR Cup Series’ 76-year history, only one has won with the No. 14 at Phoenix. Briscoe’s Phoenix win is the only Cup Series victory by a driver of the No. 14, an incredible feat when looking at some of the past wheelmen of the No. 14, which includes Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, A.J. Foyt, Terry Labonte, Fonty Flock, Jim Paschal, Hershel McGriff and Bobby Allison. Stewart, Labonte McGriff and Allison are all NASCAR Hall of Famers.

● On his way to the NASCAR Cup Series, Briscoe spent two full seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. From 2019 through 2020, Briscoe made four Xfinity Series starts at Phoenix and never finished outside the top-10. His best result was sixth, earned twice – in his first Xfinity Series race at Phoenix in March 2019 and in his third Xfinity Series start at the track one year later.

● In his lone NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start at Phoenix in November 2017, Briscoe was strong and consistent, qualifying eighth and finishing fourth.

● Mahindra Ag North America is in its third year as the anchor sponsor for Briscoe and the No. 14 team after extending its partnership with Stewart-Haas during the offseason. The multiyear agreement with the NASCAR team co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart and industrialist Gene Haas continues to feature Mahindra Tractors, a brand of Mahindra Ag North America, on Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford Mustang for the majority of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. Houston-based Mahindra Ag North America is part of Mahindra Group’s Automotive and Farm Sector, the No. 1 selling farm tractor company in the world, based on volumes across all company brands. Mahindra offers a range of tractor models from 20-75 horsepower, implements, and the ROXOR heavy-duty UTV. Mahindra farm equipment is engineered to be easy to operate by first-time tractor or side-by-side owners and heavy duty to tackle the tough jobs of rural living, farming and ranching. Steel-framed Mahindra Tractors and side-by-sides are ideal for customers who demand performance, reliability and comfort. Mahindra dealers are independent, family-owned businesses located throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

You earned your first career NASCAR Cup Series win two years ago at Phoenix. Describe the race, what you did to win, and what it was like to take the checkered flag.

“It was obviously a super special day and one that I’ll certainly never forget. I remember truthfully going there that weekend not super excited. Phoenix had never been a track that I necessarily looked forward to going to. I looked at it as one of my three worst racetracks. I remember going there that weekend trying to be optimistic, but kind of knowing it could potentially be a weekend of struggle. I put a ton of work in trying to get better at Phoenix, but I still felt I had a long way to go. I remember practicing and qualifying and being extremely happy with my car and I felt like Sunday I definitely was going to be in the mix as far as a top-five goes. I didn’t necessarily feel like I had winning speed, but felt I had a car capable of being up front. I was able to slowly creep our way forward all day until we found ourselves in the lead and I just remember it not being an easy one to seal the deal. I had to hold off Chase Elliott for like 60, 70 laps, and our pit crew did an amazing job keeping us out front, and they actually got me the lead again on pit road. I remember having a restart with, I want to say 18 or so to go, and starting on the front row with Kevin Harvick at Phoenix going for the win, which was really cool to go heads-up against not only my teammate, but also a guy who had done it all there. It was just a really cool day, and I felt like I definitely had to go and earn it. I think we had a restart with four or five to go, too, and it was me and Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick and we were all going for our first win at the time. It was a really hard one to win and one of those races where you really had to keep your elbows up and just a really cool day overall.”

You’ve won the race, you’ve celebrated with your crew on the start/finish line, and then you head to victory lane. What’s the one moment that stands out from that day?

“One thing would be just having my dad there, just him coming up to me and telling me how proud he was and just seeing how much it meant to him. Obviously, it meant a ton to me, but he’s been there from the beginning and knows all the sacrifices and knows all the things we did to get to that point. To be able to share that moment with him was really special. He was the only family I had out there that weekend, so I was glad that I had somebody to experience that moment with.”

You dream of winning a NASCAR Cup Series race, and then it happens. Was it like you thought it would be, or was it better, or did it all happen so fast that you wish you would’ve savored more of it?

“I would say I didn’t realize, truthfully, how big of a deal it was to other people. I knew it was going to be a big thing that I always wanted to do, but when it comes to me, after I did it, it was cool to check that box, but I was just ready to go on to the next one. It was kind of like business as usual. I remember getting home that night, the first thing I had to do the next morning was take the trash out. Nothing had changed just because I won a Cup race. But I would say I never knew how much it would mean to other people. After the fact, I had tons of text messages and a couple of people actually took videos of themselves watching the race, some people were crying. And the number of team owners that I had driven for in the past, and to see how much it meant to them, that’s when I think it opened my eyes to how big of a deal it really was. When you think of the Cup Series, when we were able to win that race, I was the 200th winner in Cup Series history, so when you think of all the people who have actually attempted a race, and then to be able to be on a very unique list of only 200 drivers to be able to say they had won a Cup race was really special. Yeah, I kind of wish I would’ve savored it a little bit more, but at the same time you’re only as good as your last race in this sport, so you try to move on to the next one and try to duplicate it as best you can.”

There’s always pressure to perform in motorsports. Was it a weight lifted off your shoulders to snare that win, or did it actually add to the pressure, because now that you did it once, you’re expected to do it again?

“I think both. There’s definitely confidence that came along with the win, but there’s also a sigh of relief. Your whole life growing up you dream of getting to be a Cup racer, you want to win at the highest level, getting your name added to the guys on that list. Any time you move up in a series, there’s obviously this huge learning curve that comes with that, and I feel like every racecar driver at some point questions themselves every time they move up in the ranks. Am I capable of this? Am I going to be able to win at this level? So to be able to win at this level was definitely a sigh of relief but, at the same time, it definitely adds pressure in the sense that it turns into an expectation when you can show you can win, especially at a non-restrictor-plate type of racetrack. If you can win at one of those types of racetracks, you’re expected to be able to win anywhere. It’s a sense of some relief just being able to check that box, but it certainly adds to the pressure of wanting to check a lot more boxes.”

Three top-10s in six career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix, but in those other three starts, we’re looking at finishes all outside the top-20. What makes Phoenix a seemingly feast or famine track for you?

“Some of it goes back to my feeling that it was always one of those tracks where I’ve always struggled at, even though I’ve been able to win there. I feel like when our car’s really good, I’ve always been able to be up in the mix, but when our car is off, I feel like I’ve struggled to find the speed and where to make speed. I definitely feel like my race team has carried me to a certain extent every time we’ve gone to Phoenix and had those good runs. They’ve done a really good job of bringing a really good package there. I definitely still have a lot to learn when it comes to Phoenix, just trying to make my car do things that it doesn’t necessarily want to do. I think some of the results go along with the racetrack. They’ve been able to spray the resin down, and the top lane kind of comes in at times, and I feel like anytime the top lane has been good at Phoenix, I’ve been up in the mix, but when it hasn’t been on the top, I’ve kind of struggled. So I feel like that’s where a lot of the feast or famine comes from.”

Four career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Phoenix and all of them ended with top-10 results. How different is the Cup car at Phoenix compared to the Xfinity Series car there, and were there any takeaways that you were able to apply when you got in the Cup car?

“I really don’t feel like anything in the Xfinity car applied. Today, we’re downshifting, and along with the braking, everything is totally different. There’s not a whole lot you can take from it, and the whole start of my career at Phoenix was truly a struggle. Even though we had run in the top-10, we were never really in the mix to win races.”

There’s a new rules package at Phoenix – a simplified rear diffuser and a higher rear spoiler. What do you know about it and what are your expectations with it?

“I don’t know a whole lot about it as far as what it’s going to be like. Fortunately, we’re going to get a full practice session on Friday, so that’ll be nice to kind of go through some things and try to see where it’s all different and what it does. I certainly think this package on paper is going to put a lot more in the driver’s hands. We should be slipping and sliding around a lot more. I think it’s going to be easier to pass guys, you’re going to see a lot more comers and goers. From a racing standpoint on the short tracks, I definitely think it’s going to make it better. So that’s exciting to think about. Any time the drivers can get more things put in their hands, they like that. I’m looking forward to it. We’ve had a pretty good package there in the past. We’re going to change that package, so that’s a little concerning, kind of knowing that we’ve always been pretty good there. Just trying to understand how all that’s going to apply. There’s lot of moving targets and variables, but it’s still a racecar and you’ve still got to get it around the racetrack as fast as you can, so that’s what we’ll have to do.”

Restarts at Phoenix can be a little crazy. How crazy are they, and when is it smart to cut through the dogleg and when is it a riskier proposition?

“The restarts at Phoenix are certainly unlike anywhere else we go. There’s really no other racetrack where you hear six-, seven-wide, sometimes, on the radio. It is a challenge. It seems the more aggressive you can be, the better, but there is that risk versus reward at the same time. Phoenix is a very interesting track as you go from the front straightaway where we do the restarts to where you could run 30-wide if you wanted to, and then you kind of funnel into the exit of turn two where it’s barely three-wide. There is a lot of give and take, but it’s one of those places where, anymore, you have to always cut the dogleg every restart – not necessarily at the start of the race – but you’ll see guys doing it because it’s definitely turned into an advantage doing it. It’s always relative to where you’re at in the field, whether you’re in the inside or outside lane, but you definitely will be cutting the dogleg on every restart.”

You cut through the dogleg and you’re carrying a bunch of speed – what do you need to do to get slowed down enough to make that first corner, which just got a whole lot tighter because you cut the corner – and how do you merge into traffic with those who stayed on the track and arced their way into turn one?

“It’s very complicated. There’s a lot going on at once. There are so many different things that are going on – if you’re in the bottom lane, you’re trying not to run into the guy in front of you. In (turns) one and two, it does give you the option, you can run down on the apron, but by the exit of turn two, the pit wall starts so you’ve got to be up on the racetrack. It’s chaos, truthfully, every time we go there, and especially if you have a late-race restart, there are just guys all over the place and you’re just trying to find a lane where you can find some clean air. I always kind of enjoy being on the top a little bit more, but it seems like the farther back you are, the bottom’s a little bit better. It’s just a hard place because there are so many things that can happen. One guy can have a bad corner or mess up and then all of a sudden that whole lane gets backed up. So there’s a lot that has to go your way and a lot that obviously can go wrong, and you just hope you’re on the good end of it.”

We talked about how Las Vegas is a litmus test in terms of where teams stack up with one another. Is that the case for Phoenix as well, at least in terms of how your short-track package stacks up, and is there an element of urgency because Richmond and Martinsville are only two and three weeks away, respectively?

“For sure there’s some of that. I think that your Martinsville stuff may not necessarily be bad if you’re bad at Phoenix or good if you’re good at Phoenix because they are so different. And Richmond is so much more a tire fall-off situation. So I would say there will be some cars that are better than others when we go to Phoenix, just with it being a new package and everybody’s still trying to learn it, but I don’t think it’s going to be an end-all, be-all if you’re not good at Phoenix. The racetracks coming up from a short-track standpoint are so drastically different than what we have at Phoenix. It’s hard to say until we go out there and do it, but hopefully for our sake we can be good. If you can go out there and be good in practice and good in qualifying, it’s certainly going to make your race a whole lot better.”

No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Chase Briscoe

Hometown: Mitchell, Indiana

Crew Chief: Richard Boswell

Hometown: Friendship, Maryland

Car Chief: J.D. Frey

Hometown: Ferndale, California

Engineer: Mike Cook

Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland

Spotter: Joey Campbell

Hometown: Berlin, Connecticut

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Shayne Pipala

Hometown: Frankfort Square, Illinois

Rear Tire Changer: Dakota Ratcliff

Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee

Tire Carrier: Jon Bernal

Hometown: Holland, Michigan

Jack Man: Dylan Moser

Hometown: Monroe, North Carolina

Fuel Man: Corey Coppola

Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia

Road Crew Members

Underneath Mechanic: Stephen Gonzalez

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Interior Mechanic: Trevor Adams

Hometown: Plymouth, Wisconsin

Tire Specialist: Keith Eads

Hometown: Arlington, Virginia

Shock Specialist: Brian Holshouser

Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina

Engine Tuner: Jon Phillips

Hometown: Jefferson City, Missouri

Transporter Co-Driver: Todd Cable

Hometown: Shelby, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Dale Lackey

Hometown: Taylorsville, North Carolina

PENNZOIL 400 – LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Las Vegas, Nev. – March 3, 2024
NASCAR TRACKS – LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY – NASCAR 101

AUSTIN CINDRIC No. 2 DISCOUNT TIRE FORD MUSTANG

START: 3RD STAGE ONE: 9TH STAGE TWO: 32ND FINISH: 29TH POINTS: 11TH

RACE RUNDOWN: Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang, finished 29th in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Cindric fired off from the third position after posting strong times in Saturday’s qualifying sessions. Under the first caution of the race on Lap 11, Cindric informed the Discount Tire team of a slightly tight condition and headed to pit road for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. He restarted ninth, but another caution on Lap 27 allowed the Team Penske driver to return to pit road for further adjustments. When the flags flew to conclude Stage 1, Cindric was scored in the ninth position. Under the Stage break, crew chief Brian Wilson called the driver in for another service stop with adjustments targeted to aid the right front and Cindric took the green flag from the 10th position for the incoming restart to kick off Stage 2. Unfortunately during a green flag pit stop on Lap 119, the No. 2 Ford Mustang was flagged for speeding and issued a pass-through penalty, erasing Cindric’s track position. A significant vibration plagued the Discount Tire machine following the pit stop, but Cindric powered through and was eventually able to take the wave-around to rejoin the lead lap. After crossing the line 32nd to end Stage 2, Cindric returned to pit lane for fresh tires and air pressure adjustments, lining up 27th for the restart. Cindric battled a loose condition after tagging the wall in the final stretch, but pushed through to the checkered flag.

CINDRIC’S THOUGHTS: “It was good to get stage points at the beginning of the race. I definitely hurt us with the speeding penalty which lost all our track position and had to fight to get back on the lead lap – that one is on me. We had a set of tires that had a really bad vibration that took me out of contention for another stint. We had speed in our Discount Tire Ford Mustang, just did not execute the best today on my part.”

RYAN BLANEY No. 12 MENARDS/PENNZOIL FORD MUSTANG

START: 15TH STAGE ONE: 11TH STAGE TWO: 4TH FINISH: 3RD POINTS: 2ND

RACE RUNDOWN: Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil team battled to a third-place finish Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, marking his sixth-career top-five at the 1.5-mile oval and second in as many weeks. Blaney displayed strong long-run speed throughout the 400-mile event and fought back from 20th in the running order to secure an 11th-place finish in Stage 1. Following a four-tire stop with a round of adjustments to give Blaney more front turn, he lined up 12th on the ensuing restart and vaulted up to sixth in the running order on the opening lap of Stage 2 with a massive run out of turn four using the outside lane. As the long-run speed began to settle in, Blaney made his way up to fourth before the start of the green flag pit cycle. An efficient, four-tire stop from the No. 12 team on lap 118 cycled Blaney to third in the running order before coming away with a fourth-place finish in the second stage. Blaney continued to display top-five speed in the final stage and was running third at the time of the final caution with 33 laps to go. Crew chief Jonathan Hassler called for another round of adjustments to tighten up the No. 12 Ford Mustang during the four-tire stop under yellow before Blaney lined up fourth for the final restart with 28 laps remaining. After restarting from the outside of row two, Blaney worked his way up to third in the running order in the closing laps to secure a top-five result.

BLANEY’S THOUGHTS: “Worked really hard all day and got better through the race I thought, so that was positive, and probably ended the best we were. So that’s always good. Something good to look forward to and hopefully just continue to work on. So proud of the Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang team. The No. 12 guys did a good job all weekend. Hopefully, we learned for next week, so that’s all you can ask for.”

JOEY LOGANO No. 22 PENNZOIL FORD MUSTANG

START: 1ST STAGE ONE: 13TH STAGE TWO: 9TH FINISH: 9TH POINTS: 24TH

RACE RUNDOWN: Joey Logano led the field to green in the No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang Sunday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and battled through handling issues on the opening run of the 400-mile event, shuffling him outside the top-10 during the opening run. The No. 22 team dialed in several adjustments on pit road in the early going, but a vibration that came on in the closing laps of Stage 1 relegated Logano to a 13th-place finish in the opening segment. Logano raced his way back into the top-10 following the green-flag pit cycle in Stage 2 despite a loose-handling condition in traffic but held his own through the green-and-white checkered flag on lap 165 to pick up a ninth-place finish in Stage 2. Logano continued to keep top-10 pace in the final stage and was scored seventh when the caution flew with 33 laps to go. One final four-tire stop with a round of adjustments set Logano up to restart from the inside of row three with 28 laps to go before ultimately coming away with a ninth-place finish – marking his 13th-career top-10 finish in 22 starts at Las Vegas.

LOGANO’S THOUGHTS: “We fired off a little bit off and lost a lot of track position in the first stage. We got our balance to where it was close, but only in the long run. Once we got seven laps into a run we were able to run top-three times. Unfortunately we lost too many spots on the restarts. We executed well on pit road and our No. 22 team did a good job. We just didn’t fire off fast enough or have good enough restarts.”

The NASCAR Cup Series closes out the West Coast swing at Phoenix Raceway for the Shriners Children’s 500 on Sunday, March 10. Coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Austin Dillon and The No. 3 BetMGM Chevrolet Team Earn Stage Points During Solid Showing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Finish: 16th
Start: 19th
Points: 27th

“Solid showing today for everyone on the No. 3 BetMGM Chevrolet at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Our 16th-place finish doesn’t show how strong we were. We had a pretty solid day and ran in the top-five or top-10 all day. We earned stage points in Stage 2 and we were pretty good in the middle of the race. Unfortunately, we didn’t make a big enough adjustment at the end of the race and got really tight. Even though we weren’t able to come home with a top-10 finish, it was a big improvement from where we’ve been. We were one adjustment away from finishing in the top-10, for sure. We’ll learn from today and head to Phoenix Raceway.” -Austin Dillon

Kyle Busch Shows Speed and Leads Laps in BetMGM Chevrolet at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Finish: 26th
Start: 21st
Points: 6th

“We had a faster BetMGM Chevrolet today than what the results show. Our Richard Childress Racing team had speed early in the race. Crew chief Randall Burnett made a good call for two tires to get us track position and set us up for a good finish in Stage 1. We led some laps in the BetMGM Chevrolet and ran up front. We had a tough day on pit road and didn’t get the finish that we deserved. I’m proud of this team for bringing fast cars every week. We’ll get after it next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.” -Kyle Busch

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
No. 42 SAFEWAY / ALBERTSONS TOYOTA CAMRY XSE

START: 27th
FINISH: 22nd
POINTS: 16th

John Hunter Nemechek’s Post-Race Thoughts: “P22 today. Long day here in Las Vegas. We had speed at times, didn’t have speed at times, but overall, it was a solid day. Thanks to all our great partners for getting us here. We have some work to do, but it’s a solid first mile-and-a-half for me. Learned a lot.”

ERIK JONES

No. 43 DOLLAR TREE TOYOTA CAMRY XSE

START: 22nd
FINISH: 14th
POINTS: 15th

Erik Jones’ Post-Race Thoughts: “Pretty up-and-down day. Up-and-down weekend really, fired off the race not where we needed to be, and had to make some really big changes the first three, four stops of the day to get the Dollar Tree Camry better. To salvage a top-15 is good, but we want more, so we will keep working on it.”

ABOUT OUR PARTNERS

ABOUT DOLLAR TREE, INC.: Dollar Tree, a Fortune 200 Company, operated 16,622 stores across 48 states and five Canadian provinces as of October 28, 2023. Stores operate under the brands of Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree Canada. To learn more about the Company, visit www.DollarTree.com.

ABOUT SAFEWAY: In 1915, M.B. Skaggs, an ambitious young man in the small Idaho town of American Falls, purchased a tiny grocery store from his father. M.B.’s business strategy, to give his customers value and to expand by keeping a narrow profit margin, proved spectacularly successful. By 1926 he had opened 428 Skaggs stores in 10 states. M.B. almost doubled the size of his business that year when he merged his company with 322 Safeway (formerly Selig) stores and incorporated as Safeway, Inc. Two years later, M.B. listed Safeway on the New York Stock Exchange. M.B. did not let the difficulties of the Great Depression dilute his pioneering focus on value for customers. In the 1930s, Safeway introduced produce pricing by the pound, added “sell by” dates on perishables to assure freshness, nutritional labeling and even created some of the first parking lots.

M.B. Skagg’s value vision still drives Safeway, though on a dramatically larger scale. Today, Safeway operates as a banner of Albertsons Companies, one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States. With both a strong local presence and national scale, the company operates stores across 35 states and the District of Columbia under 20 well-known banners. Albertsons Companies is committed to helping people across the country live better lives by making a meaningful difference, neighborhood by neighborhood. In 2017 alone, along with the Albertsons Companies Foundation, the company gave nearly $300 million in food and financial support. These efforts helped millions of people in the areas of hunger relief, education, cancer research and treatment, programs for people with disabilities and veterans outreach.

ABOUT LEGACY MOTOR CLUB: LEGACY MOTOR CLUB™ is a professional auto racing club owned by businessman and entrepreneur Maurice “Maury” J. Gallagher and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson. The CLUB competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series fielding the No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE of John Hunter Nemechek, the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE of Erik Jones, and the No. 84 limited schedule entry for Johnson. LEGACY M.C. also competes in the Extreme-E Series. Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty “The King” serves as Club Ambassador. With a unique title signifying a nod to car clubs of past eras, LEGACY M.C. is an inclusive club for all motorsport enthusiasts to celebrate the past and future legacies of its members, while competing for wins and championships at NASCAR’s elite level. To keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and exclusive content, follow LEGACY MOTOR CLUB™ on Facebook, X, Instagram and at www.LEGACYMOTORCLUB.com.

Solomon Plumbing Ford Salvages Top-15 in Up and Down Day at Vegas

LAS VEGAS (March 3, 2024) – Brad Keselowski made the most of an up and down Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, bringing home a 13th-place finish in the Solomon Plumbing Ford. Chris Buescher was inside the top-10 before he lost a tire, resulting in a 37th-place finish.

6 Recap
Keselowski began the day from the 25th spot following Saturday’s qualifying session. He ended the first stage in 21st, and hovered around that position for a large part of the race. Stage two was separated by just one caution flag at lap 155 as Keselowski ran 18th at the time.

After restarting 19th in a four-lap shootout to the stage two finish, Keselowski picked off four spots to finish 15th at the conclusion of that segment. From there, just one yellow stood between the checkered flag, which came with just over 30 to go. Keselowski restarted 16th on the final reset of the race, before going on to finish 13th.

17 Recap
Buescher had a strong qualifying effort on Saturday, putting the Fastenal Ford in the top-10 for the single-car session. After starting ninth, he was seventh just 10 laps in, before a call for two tires put him at the point for the ensuing restart.

He led a pair of laps as the race went back green, before losing a right front tire just a few laps later. He made heavy right-side contact, resulting in significant damage which retired him from the afternoon.

“We lost the nut and lost half the wheel. I think the tire stayed up under the fender. I’m not exactly sure just yet, but it looks like the nut came off and something in the suspension actually cut the wheel in half. It’s definitely not what we wanted with our Fastenal Ford Mustang out here today. We had a strong day yesterday. I was really proud of that effort. We got a good bunch here and we’re gonna be contenders. We’re gonna win some races, but it’s not gonna happen today.”

Up Next
Phoenix Raceway hosts race four of the season, and the second-straight on the West Coast next weekend. Race coverage next Sunday is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

About RFK Racing
RFK Racing, entering its 37th season in 2024, features an ownership lineup pairing one of the sport’s most iconic names, Jack Roush, along with NASCAR Champion, Brad Keselowski, and Fenway Sports Group owner John Henry. Roush initially founded the team in 1988 and it has since become one of the most successful racing operations in the world, propelling him to be the first NASCAR owner to amass three hundred wins and capturing eight championships, including back-to-back NASCAR Cup titles in 2003 and 2004. Keselowski, a former owner in the NASCAR Truck Series, is the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series Champion. In 2007, Roush partnered with Henry, who also owns Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, English Premier League’s Liverpool F.C., and the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, to form Roush Fenway Racing. Off the track, RFK is a leader and proven winner in NASCAR marketing solutions, having produced multiple award-winning social media, digital content and experiential marketing campaigns. Visit rfkracing.com, and follow the team on all social platforms @rfkracing.

Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team ended Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a 30th-place finish.

The early portions of the race were encouraging as Burton, who started from 29th place, moved up five positions to 24th before the race’s first caution flag flew at Lap 11.

Burton took his Mustang Dark Horse to pit road for his first stop during the ensuing caution period and moved into the top 20 when the green flag was displayed for the restart.

He was running 23rd when the race was red flagged for repairs to the outside wall and remained in the top 25 until the first Stage ended at Lap 80 with him in 23rd place.

A quick pit stop during the Stage break allowed Burton to restart in 19thplace, and he ran in the top 20 for most of the first half of the second Stage.

Burton managed to hang on to the lead lap until a caution flag for a spin by Christopher Bell at Lap 157 allowed him to pit under caution and return to the track in 22nd place. He held that spot until the end of the second Stage.

After falling a lap down in the late part of the final stage, the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team elected to take the wave-around during a caution period for a spin by Corey LaJoie at Lap 236 of 267 and rejoined the lead lap.

The final 20 circuits saw the No. 21 Mustang Dark Horse drop to 31st in the running order, but Burton regained one spot on the final lap to finish 30th.

The No. 21 team now turns their attention to next week’s Shriners Children’s 400 at Phoenix Raceway.

About Motorcraft®
Motorcraft offers a complete line of replacement parts that are recommended by Ford Motor Company. From routine maintenance to under hood repairs, Motorcraft parts offer value with high quality and the right fit at competitive prices. Motorcraft parts are available nationwide at Ford Dealers and Lincoln Retailers, independent distributors and automotive-parts retailers, and are backed by the Service Parts Limited Warranty* of Ford Motor Company. For more information, visit www.motorcraft.com.
*See your dealer for limited-warranty details.

About Quick Lane® Tire & Auto Center
Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center offers extraordinary service for routine maintenance, serving all vehicle makes and models. Quick Lane provides a full menu of automotive services, including tires, oil change and maintenance, brakes, batteries, alternator and electrical system, air conditioning system, cooling system, transmission service, suspension and steering, wheel alignment, belts and hoses, lamps and bulbs and wiper blades plus a thorough vehicle checkup report. Service is performed by expert technicians while you wait at any of nearly 800 locations in the U.S., with evening and weekend hours available and no appointment necessary. For more information about Quick Lane, please visit www.quicklane.com.
*See your dealer for limited-warranty details.”

About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan, committed to helping build a better world, where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams. The company’s Ford+ plan for growth and value creation combines existing strengths, new capabilities and always-on relationships with customers to enrich experiences for customers and deepen their loyalty. Ford develops and delivers innovative, must-have Ford trucks, sport utility vehicles, commercial vans and cars and Lincoln luxury vehicles, along with connected services. The company does that through three customer-centered business segments: Ford Blue, engineering iconic gas-powered and hybrid vehicles; Ford Model e, inventing breakthrough EVs along with embedded software that defines exceptional digital experiences for all customers; and Ford Pro, helping commercial customers transform and expand their businesses with vehicles and services tailored to their needs. Additionally, Ford is pursuing mobility solutions through Ford Next, and provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. Ford employs about 177,000 people worldwide. More information about the company and its products and services is available at corporate.ford.com.

About Ford Performance
Ford Performance is based in Dearborn, Mich. It is responsible for Ford’s performance vehicle development and major racing operations globally, including NASCAR, IMSA, SRO British GT, FIA World Rally Championship, Supercars Championship, World of Outlaws, Ultra4, SCORE-International, FIA Rally-Raid, Formula Drift, NHRA, Rebelle Rally, Thailand Super Series and our latest commitment in Formula 1 with RedBull Ford Powertrains. Ford Performance also maintains a constantly evolving fleet of electric performance demonstrators to showcase the limits of electrification technology. In addition, the organization also oversees the development of Ford’s racing engines, as well as the outreach programs with all Ford Clubs and Ford enthusiasts. For more information regarding Ford racing’s activities, please visit Performance.Ford.com or follow @FordPerformance on Facebook, Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube.

Wood Brothers Racing
Wood Brothers Racing was formed in 1950 in Stuart, Va., by Hall of Famer Glenn Wood. Wood Brothers Racing is the oldest active team and one of the winningest teams in NASCAR history. Since its founding, the team won 99 races (including at least one race in every decade for the last seven decades) and 120 poles in NASCAR’s top-tier series. Fielding only Ford products for its entire history, the Wood Brothers own the longest association of any motorsports team with a single manufacturer. Glenn’s brother, Leonard, is known for inventing the modern pit stop. The team currently runs the Ford Mustang driven by Harrison Burton in the famous No. 21 racer.

Race Recap | Pennzoil 400 Presented by Jiffy Lube

 DANIEL HEMRIC

No. 31 South Point Camaro ZL1

• Daniel Hemric qualified 34th for the Pennzoil 400 Presented by Jiffy Lube.
• The first caution of the day came out on lap 10, and Hemric pitted for tires, fuel and a right-rear adjustment on the No. 31 South Point Camaro ZL1. After restarting 31st on lap 16, the next caution came out on lap 26. Hemric radioed that the No. 31 Chevrolet fired off strong but would trend tight as he ran. Crew chief, Trent Owens, called Hemric in for tires and an adjustment under caution. After restarting 32nd, Hemric made up nine spots to finish 23rd in the first stage.
• During the first stage break, Hemric pitted for tires, fuel and an adjustment to help with right-rear lateral, before starting the second stage 24th. Hemric pitted on lap 120 but received a speeding penalty. He completed a pass-through and fell one lap down to the leaders. When the next caution fell on lap 157, Hemric was eligible for the wave around, placing him back on the lead lap. The field took the green flag with four laps remaining, as Hemric finished the second stage in 31st place.
• During the second stage break, Hemric pitted for tires, fuel and a right-side air pressure adjustment, before starting the final stage in 29th. The race remained green, and Hemric made a green-flag stop on lap 209 for four tires and fuel. Just after Hemric went down a lap, a caution came out on lap 235, giving him the free pass. He pitted for four tires under caution and restarted 24th with 26 laps remaining. Hemric cracked the top 20 for the first time on lap 243 and went on to finish the race in 19th place.

“We fired off decent in the race, but within a few laps, the No. 31 South Point Chevy just started getting tight. A speeding penalty set us back a bit, but fortunately we were able to get the lap back. We ran the best we had all day during those last couple of runs, and we were able to grab another top-20 finish.” – Daniel Hemric  

DEREK KRAUS

No. 16 Western States Flooring Camaro ZL1

• Derek Kraus qualified 33rd for the Pennzoil 400 Presented by Jiffy Lube.
• The first caution fell on lap 10, and Kraus brought the No. 16 Chevrolet to pit road for four tires and fuel before restarting 30th on lap 15. The next caution came out shortly after on lap 26, and Crew Chief, Travis Mack, elected to bring the No. 16 Chevrolet down pit road for 4 tires and fuel, along with an air pressure adjustment, as Kraus reported his car was tight on exits. Kraus restarted 30th, before finishing 24th in the first stage.
• During the stage break, Kraus reported that he was comfortable with the handling of the No. 16 Chevrolet. He pitted for four tires and fuel before restarting in 24th. Kraus made his first green-flag pit stop on lap 120 for four tires and fuel and eventually went one lap down on lap 153. When the next caution came out on lap 157, Kraus sat in the lucky dog position, putting him back on the lead lap. He pitted under caution before restarting 26th with four laps remaining. He went on to finish the second stage in 26th.
• The No 16 started the third and final stage from 18th. As the field cycled through green-flag pit stops, Kraus led his first-career laps before following suit and pitting for four tires and fuel. He went on to finish 28th in his first NASCAR Cup Series race.

“Overall, we achieved what we wanted to, and that was to complete all 400 laps. We were pretty good all day; I just have to work on my restarts and make sure I capitalize on track position when I have it. I can’t thank Kaulig Racing and Western States Flooring enough for the opportunity. I’m looking forward to Phoenix next week!” – Derek Kraus  

 

About Kaulig Racing

Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time multi-car NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started and has won back-to-back regular-season championships. Before becoming a full-time NCS team, Kaulig Racing made multiple starts in the 2021 NCS season and won in its seventh-ever start with AJ Allmendinger’s victory at “The Brickyard” for the Verizon 200 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The team expanded to a two-car, full-time NCS team in 2022 and added a third, part-time entry during the 2023 season. In 2024, the team will once again field two, full-time entries in the NCS and continue to field three, full-time NXS entries. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.

STEWART-HAAS RACING
Las Vegas 400

Date: March 3, 2024
Event: Las Vegas 400 (Round 3 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/85 laps/102 laps)
Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

SHR Finish:

● Noah Gragson (Started 30th, Finished 6th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
● Josh Berry (Started 26th, Finished 20th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 6th, Finished 21st / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
● Ryan Preece (Started 36th, Finished 23rd / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)

SHR Points:

● Chase Briscoe (20th with 53 points, 65 out of first)
● Josh Berry (30th with 37 points, 81 out of first)
● Noah Gragson (34th with 25 points, 93 out of first)
● Ryan Preece (36th with 14 points, 104 out of first)

SHR Notes:

● Gragson earned his second top-10 of the season and his first top-10 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Las Vegas.
● This was Gragson’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was ninth, earned in the season-opening Daytona 500.
● Gragson’s sixth-place result bettered his previous best finish at Las Vegas – 11th, earned in October 2022.
● This was Berry’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 25th, earned in the season-opening Daytona 500.
● Berry’s 20th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Las Vegas – 29th, earned last March.
● Briscoe led one lap, increasing his laps-led total at Las Vegas to seven.

Race Notes:

● Kyle Larson won the Las Vegas 400 to score his 24th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his third at Las Vegas. His margin of victory over second-place Tyler Reddick was .441 of a second.

● There were six caution periods for a total of 35 laps.

● Thirty-one of the 37 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

● Larson leaves Las Vegas as the championship leader with an eight-point advantage over second-place Ryan Blaney.

Sound Bites:

“These guys are good. It feels good to do it in front of the hometown crowd. I was battling Ty (Gibbs) and Ross (Chastain) there at the end for a top-five. I really wanted a top-five, but coming from 30th to sixth, I’m just really proud of everyone’s effort. This Mustang Dark Horse is bitchin’. It’s fast and it’s been really good. This compared to last year just has a lot more speed. You can go where you want. We’ve got a good pit crew and just a good team. We’re going to take this and get back into the positives in points and just keep on working, keep on learning and becoming better than we were yesterday and just keep that attitude. I think we’ve got the tightest group in the garage. They’re awesome to work with and I love every one of them.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Fanttik Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“I think we saw a lot of potential with the new (Ford Mustang Dark Horse) body style. Definitely each run it seemed like as a company, one of our cars was stronger than the other. But we learned a lot and our car definitely had some speed. We’ve just got to work on fine-tuning it and I need to work on starting just a little bit closer to the front, and all of those things start to compound and we have a little bit better of a day. But overall I thought we were solid.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1/Take 5 Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“Before (the contact with Ryan Blaney), I thought our car was pretty good. We weren’t good enough to win, I didn’t think, but we were definitely a fifth- to 10th-place car fairly easily. I was able to pass a lot of cars. That second run of the race, we kind of went backward, but after that we were able to continue to go forward and I was really happy with the way my car was driving. After the contact, as soon as it happened, I went into the next corner and we were a half a second slower that lap and just continued to stay a half a second slower than we had been for the rest of the race. Kind of head-scratching, not really sure what happened as far as why we lost a half a second. Definitely a tough one to swallow when we had that good of a car – we definitely had a top-10 car and ended up finishing 21st. That part’s kind of frustrating, but we’re going to Phoenix where we’ve had speed in the past and see if we can just get a better run.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“We just did what we could with what we had for the day. Without practice, really, what we had was really what it was going to be. That’s that.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Shriners Children’s 500k on Sunday, March 10 at Phoenix Raceway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.