Category: Truck Series

JOHNNY SAUTER
No. 21 Allegiant Chevrolet Silverado

Dover Stats
8 starts, 3 top-fives, 5 top-10s

Additional Notes
– Last year, Dover marked a turning point in the season for Johnny Sauter after failing to finish inside the top 15 following his win in the season opener at Daytona. He finished fourth at Dover and only finished outside the top 10 once in the remaining 18 races (Eldora, 13th-place finish) to earn the 2016 NCWTS championship.

– The no. 21 team will utilize chassis no. 118 at Dover. Sauter earned a third-place showing at Atlanta Motor Speedway, as well as a runner-up finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway with this chassis.

– Sauter continues to lead the NCWTS Driver & Owner points standings

Quote
“There really isn’t much that I could complain about if I wanted to. The 21 team has done a phenomenal job to start this season. There is always more that can be done and it would be great to have a win, but I’m not at a point where I’m worried about not having one. If you look at where we were this time last year and think about what we’ve done so far in 2017, we’re miles ahead. The growth at GMS in the last year has been amazing and the Allegiant team has done a great job showcasing it, now it’s on me to go out and get a win.”

 

JUSTIN HALEY
No. 24 Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet Silverado

Dover Stats
Justin Haley is making his first NCWTS start at Dover International Speedway.

Additional Notes
– In 2016, Haley finished fourth in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Dover to clinch the series championship, his first NASCAR touring series title. He has 3 K&N East starts at Dover, all top-10 finishes.

– Haley will pilot chassis no. 119 Friday night. This particular chassis has been raced twice this year – at Atlanta Motor Speedway (with Alex Bowman behind the wheel) and at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

– Ryan McKinney will serve as crew chief for Haley at Dover. McKinney joined GMS as car chief for the team’s NASCAR XFINITY Series program in 2016 and served as interim crew chief for Spencer Gallagher in the NCWTS last season.

– 18-year-old Haley has completed three races with GMS, with a best finish of eighth at Kansas Speedway.

Quote
“I enjoy running Dover and I’m looking forward to getting in a truck there. I’ve raced there a few times in K&N and done well, so I’m comfortable with the track itself. The team has done a great job preparing me for what to expect each week and I’ve really used my teammates and their experience to try to get ahead before we ever get on track. We’ve learned a lot with each race, so we’ll look at this weekend as an opportunity to do the same and hope that we get a good finish out of it.”

 

KAZ GRALA
No. 33 Outlaw Fasteners Chevrolet Silverado

Dover Stats
1 start, 1 top-10

Additional Info
– Kaz will pilot chassis no.108 this weekend. This chassis was raced six times last season by Spencer Gallagher but has since been rebuilt for its debut in 2017.

– After a 30th-place finish at Charlotte, Kaz is currently eighth in the driver point standings, with one win to his name.

Quote
“Dover (International Speedway) does have the feeling of being on a roller coaster. I think it is one of the most fun tracks we go to. There’s a lot of tracks that I haven’t raced on in a truck yet, but Dover is one that I have some experience at. I had a blast there last year, and it’s the same track that I got my first truck series top-10 finish. I’m really excited to get back there this weekend and see what my Outlaw Fasteners Chevy can do.”

 

ABOUT GMS RACING
GMS Racing competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with drivers Johnny Sauter, Justin Haley and Kaz Grala, and the NASCAR XFINITY Series with Spencer Gallagher and Ben Kennedy. Since the team’s start in 2014, GMS Racing has grown to occupy several buildings located in Statesville, N.C. The campus also includes operations for GMS Fabrication.

SOCIAL MEDIA
To keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and exclusive content, follow GMS Racing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Gonzalez to Compete in Camping World Truck Series Event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in September

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (May 22, 2017) – Road course ace Victor Gonzalez, Jr. will join Niece Motorsports behind the wheel of the No. 45 truck for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in September.

Although the start will mark Gonzalez’s first behind the wheel in the NCWTS, he is no stranger to NASCAR, having made two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts in 2013 at Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International.

Additionally, Gonzalez has seven NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) starts under his belt, coming at Montreal, Phoenix International Raceway, Road America and Watkins Glen International between 2009 and 2012. Four of Gonzalez’s starts resulted in top-20 finishes, with his best finish of 14th coming at Montreal in 2009.

“I’m excited to get behind the wheel in the Truck Series,” said Gonzalez. “Road course racing is truly something that I enjoy, although road course racing in heavy stock cars is definitely different. I think that we can put together a really strong run this September in Canada, and I look forward to working with this Niece Motorsports team.”

Niece Motorsports, which is owned by Marine Corps veteran Al Niece, has competed in a partial schedule during the 2017 season, with plans of running full time moving into 2018 and beyond.

Niece owns Niece Equipment, which has for over 30 years provided clients with reliable products at competitive prices. Niece Equipment’s reputation is built on service, integrity and dependability. The company provides water and fuel/lube trucks that are engineered with quality and durability in mind for the construction and mining industry.

“Victor’s road course experience is something that we are excited to have on our side later this season in Canada,” said Niece. “Obviously, road course races are a bit of a different animal, so it’s exciting for us to have someone with Victor’s experience driving out truck. I’m looking forward to a great race.”

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will take the green flag from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Sunday, September 3 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

Johnny Sauter
No. 21 Allegiant Chevrolet Silverado

Charlotte Recap
Johnny Sauter, driver of the No. 21 Allegiant Chevrolet, spent both of Thursday’s practice sessions at Charlotte Motor Speedway searching for balance. The team continued to make adjustments following final practice and improved on the handling enough for Sauter to earn a third-place starting position.

The Necedah, Wis., native took over the second position on the initial start and reported to crew chief Joe Shear, Jr., that he was slightly free. As the field worked through the first 42 laps of the 134 lap event, the Allegiant Chevrolet’s handling went in the opposite direction, becoming tight in traffic. The team stayed on track until the end of stage one when Sauter pitted from the second position for four tires fuel and an air pressure adjustment. With several trucks staying on track the No. 21 restarted from the 12th position. Within seven laps, Sauter was back in the second position and moved into the top spot on lap 55.

Sauter maintained the lead until lap 74 when he fell back to the second position with six laps remaining in stage two. Under caution the team made additional adjustments to help with the tight-condition during what would be their last pit stop of the night. Sauter once again worked his way through the field after a slow pit stop, from 17th to within the top three in just five laps. He slowly worked his way back into the runner up position, where he took the checkered flag for his career-best Charlotte Motor Speedway finish and his fourth consecutive top-three finish of the season.

Quote
“It was a good night for us. I’ve made no secret about it, this is a place I’ve struggled in the past. We brought a truck that has been really good for us, including the win at Texas last year. Our Allegiant Chevrolet was phenomenal in that second stage and I thought the track was going to go free at the end and it didn’t. I just needed more front grip for that restart and I didn’t have it but we executed well. We’ve still got a lot of work to do but I couldn’t be more proud of the effort from everyone at GMS tonight.”

Additional Info
– Sauter has increased his points lead and is now 15 points ahead of second-place Christopher Bell.

Justin Haley
No. 24 Levine Children’s Hospital Chevrolet Silverado

Charlotte Recap
Justin Haley and the No. 24 team spent both practice sessions working with a tight-handling balance. The team made major changes prior to Friday’s qualifying session but a slick track made Haley’s Chevrolet wrecking loose, relegating him to a 23rd-place starting position for the NC Education Lottery 200.

Haley started off the race reporting that his Silverado was very stable, gaining five spots by lap 12. He stayed on track through the first caution but as the field returned to green the driver reported that the No. 24 had become “horribly tight” in traffic and the high line. Crew chief Kevin Bellicourt brought his driver to pit road for four tires, fuel and adjustments to fix the handling while the leaders stayed on track. Haley finished the first stage in the 16th position and stayed out as the leaders pitted for adjustments, lining up sixth for the start of stage two. He continued to battle an extremely tight condition and returned to pit road on lap 70 for more adjustments, when Bellicourt reported that he believed something had happened in the front end to cause the handling issues to continue. He told his driver he would have to continue fighting throughout the remainder of the event, as they could only help with the handling and not fix it completely. The team continued to work on the Levine Children’s Hospital Chevrolet as the race allowed, pitting for the final time on lap 103.

Haley worked his way up to the 12th position with five laps to go before falling back on the final restart to earn a 17th-place result in his first start at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Quote
“We struggled with our handling through practice and the race, but I’m proud of how this team fought through it to get us to the end. Once Kevin (Bellicourt, crew chief) told me something wasn’t right in the front end I knew that it was going to be a long night. We have a great team and GMS has fast trucks so I know it won’t be long before we’re finishing up front. It’s still early in the season, so we’ll just keep learning and building on what we’ve got each race.”

Additional Info
– Haley is now 18th in the driver championship point standings after completing his third race of the season.

KAZ GRALA
No. 33 Outlaw Fasteners Chevrolet Silverado

Charlotte Recap
Making his first NCWTS start at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the No. 33 Outlaw Fasteners Chevrolet Silverado showed speed early on. Posting the seventh-fastest time in the opening practice session Thursday afternoon, and the 14th-fastest time in final practice, Kaz was averaging 10th overall heading into qualifying.

Securing a place in the final round of qualifying for the fifth time this season, Kaz grabbed the 12th starting position for Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200. Settling into the top-15 early on, Kaz radioed to his No. 33 crew early in the first stage that his Outlaw Fasteners Chevy was on the loose side which prevented him from being aggressive when passing other trucks. When the caution flag was displayed for the second time, on lap 34, crew chief Jerry Baxter called the rookie down pit road for four tires, fuel and adjustments to tighten up his Chevy Silverado. Restarting 19th with 4 laps left in stage one, Kaz was able to battle his way back to 13th before the stage concluded.

With varying pit strategy from the leaders, Kaz restarted fourth for stage two and held his ground for as long as he could before his No. 33 Chevy swung to the tight-side. Falling back through the pack, Kaz was running hard on the outside of the No. 99 for the 11th position. However, the No. 99 got loose, slid up the track, and collected Kaz, bringing out the caution on lap 61. The Outlaw Fasteners crew worked to repair the damage, and sent Kaz back on track in the 26th position, one lap down. Working his way into the “lucky dog” position with just over 10 laps left in stage two, Kaz radioed to his crew that something felt like it broke in the left rear. Moments later the No. 33 went around, sustaining damage that was too severe for the team to fix, relinquishing Kaz to a 30th-place finish for the night.

Quote
“I just hate it for my guys, and for Outlaw Fasteners, that our night ended this way. There was nothing I could do during the first incident. The (No.) 99 just seemed to get loose under me, and it collected me in the process. The team did a good job making repairs, and I was in the lucky dog position, but something felt like it broke a couple laps later and around I went. I feel like I learned a lot from tonight but that I still need to keep working on running well at the mile-and- a-half tracks.”

Additional Info
– After the fifth race of the season, Kaz is currently eighth in the NCWTS point standings, 103 points behind the leader, but has one win and five bonus points towards the playoffs.

ABOUT GMS RACING
GMS Racing competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with drivers Johnny Sauter, Justin Haley and Kaz Grala, and the NASCAR XFINITY Series with Spencer Gallagher. Since the team’s start in 2014, GMS Racing has grown to occupy several buildings located in Statesville, N.C. The campus also includes operations for GMS Fabrication.

SOCIAL MEDIA
To keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and exclusive content, follow GMS Racing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS)
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Race 5 of 23 – 201 miles, 134 laps
May 19, 2017

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS

1st, KYLE BUSCH
2nd, Johnny Sauter*
3rd, CHRISTOPHER BELL
4th, RYAN TRUEX
5th, TIMOTHY PETERS
6th, MATT CRAFTON
7th, GRANT ENFINGER
8th, BEN RHODES
9th, NOAH GRAGSON
10th, PARKER KLIGERMAN
12th, AUSTIN WAYNE SELF
16th, CODY COUGHLIN
18th, BRETT MOFFITT
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA DRIVER POINT STANDINGS**

1st, Johnny Sauter* 242 points
2nd, CHRISTOPHER BELL 227 points
3rd, MATT CRAFTON 191 points
5th, BEN RHODES 170 points
6th, TIMOTHY PETERS 170 points
7th, GRANT ENFINGER 147 points
9th, RYAN TRUEX 139 points
10th, BRETT MOFFITT 126 points
13th, NOAH GRAGSON 111 points
15th, CODY COUGHLIN 97 points
*non-Toyota driver
**unofficial point standings
· In his 100th Toyota Tundra start, Kyle Busch captured his second NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) victory of the season in Friday night’s NC Education Lottery 200.
· Busch won all three stages at Charlotte Motor Speedway after starting from the fourth starting position and led 90 laps (of 134).
· Nine of the top 10 vehicles were Toyota Tundras with Christopher Bell (third), Ryan Truex (fourth) and Timothy Peters (fifth) rounding out the top five.

TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 51 Cessna Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 1st
Second win in a row, how does it feel to be back in victory lane?
“It means a lot. These guys, they pour their hearts and souls into our trucks and what we do with our Toyota Tundras. It’s awesome to get Cessna back to back wins here and back to victory lane again and of course just a true testament to Rowdy Manufacturing, everybody in the chassis shop doing a fantastic job and Kyle Busch Motorsports, all the guys going home. Everyone on this 51 team, they’ve done a great job. I can’t say enough about Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) and everybody on the 4 (Christopher Bell) as well as Marcus (Richmond, crew chief) on the 18 (Noah Gragson). We’re all really working as a cohesive group and guys are doing a great job. For us to be out front most of the laps tonight, it was fun. It was challenging there that middle section of the race. That was kind of chaotic. I didn’t know what was going on half the time. We made it through there and got to the front and was able to win this thing. Just real proud of the whole team effort.”

Walk us through the bold move you made on Lap 89.
“Yeah that was interesting. You know the whole second segment of the race was really interesting for us. We led the first segment of the race and got ourselves those segment points for the owner’s championship. And then there the second segment we were kind of back in traffic and we really got freight trained when the outside lane went on that restart. Got backwards and had to work our way back up to the front. Those guys were kind of road blocking it bottom and middle and I’m like well, there’s one lane left and that’s the top so I better go use it. It was a little dirty up there, but I gave it my everything and got a huge run off the top. When (Matt) Crafton came off the corner, he left the middle open. You know I thought I was gonna have to push the 21 (Johnny Sauter), but he left the middle open so I just squeezed it three-wide and got it right up through the middle there and barreled it off into turn 3 as far as I could. Great race. Lot of fun. Can’t say enough about all our guys at KBM and everyone on this Toyota Tundra team, they’ve done a fantastic job. It was really really fast. It’s great to be able to get Cessna back to victory lane two weeks in a row and of course having them on board with us this year gives us a lot of great opportunities to improve our stuff.”

With no practice under the lights for the Cup Series, how important was tonight’s race to see what the track might do?
“Yes, I don’t know exactly. Certainly it’s always something that you can pick up with it and I certainly did tonight. I felt like I did. You know it was a fun race going from the day to qualifying was really really slick with these Tundras and these trucks and we made the most of it tonight. We had to tighten up a little bit as the night progressed. I’m figuring we’ll probably have to do a little bit of that tomorrow case we freed up our car in the day time today. Overall the M&M’s Camry was really fast, showed good speed. A couple other cars are pretty fast too so we’ll see how it goes.”

Do you ever think about the 51 wins by Ron Hornaday in this series and consider how close you’re getting with 48 wins?
“Yes and no, certainly when I’m at my shop and hanging out with the KBM boys and looking at all the banners, you kind of reflect on it a little bit and we’ve come a long way just being around since 2010. It’s been a fantastic run and we win a lot, which is great – with all different crew chiefs at my building, which is better and working with all the people and all the hard work that they put in, you want to reward them. Fortunately I can do that in the Truck Series and the record is just a number I guess. Certainly I remember surpassing Mark Martin on the XFINITY side and it was a lot of fun and pretty interesting so looking forward to hopefully passing Ron on the truck side and being able to set that a little higher and hopefully one day when I’m all said and done with the Cup stuff, maybe I’ll run my retirement tour in the Truck Series and win the championship and get the trifecta so we’ll see how that goes.”

What would it mean to win the Coke 600 or the All-Star race?
“It would mean a ton, anytime you can win here in Charlotte it’s in front of your friends, your family and your fans and everybody in the close area of the race shop. I would certainly love to do that and we’ve talked about it for a lot of years, but just kind of been eluded and not able to score that win and I think we have a fast piece over there. My M&M’s Caramel Camry has got some good speed in it. We’re starting up front and that’s a good omen hopefully and we can keep ourselves up front for much of night and put ourselves in position when it matters most in those final 10 laps.”

KEVIN ‘BONO’ MANION, crew chief, No. 51 Cessna Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
What does it mean to win in front of the home track at Charlotte?
“In front of the home crowd with a lot of guys and girls from the shop here is really special and always a win at your home track, your given home track. It seemed rather easy in the first segment and like Kyle (Busch) said, in the second segment got challenging being stuck on the bottom. Kyle did a good job in the high line and then the Red Sea parted there and he went between those two trucks with just a couple to go. That set us up for the last segment and with the laps winding down we were keeping track and then the caution came out just a little too late to take tires with a little cushion behind us, for the guys that did pit there was no chance to get back to the front.”

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 4 SiriusXM Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 3rd
What happened to get you a couple of laps down early on?
“I think we had a flat right rear – or left rear when we fired off. It was really really loose the first couple laps and then finally went down off of (turn) four there. All these guys on this SiriusXM Tundra did a great job of getting me back out there. I had a second-place truck. Ran third with it. That’s what’s frustrating. Glad my boss won, that’s cool. We’ll be back and stronger than ever at Dover.”

Toyota Racing
Christopher Bell & Ben Rhodes
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS)
Charlotte Motor Speedway – May 18, 2017

Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Christopher Bell and ThorSport Racing driver Ben Rhodes were made available to the media at Charlotte Motor Speedway:

CHRISTOPHERBELL, No. 4 SiriusXM Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
How much can back-to-back races and momentum help you guys moving towards the playoffs?
“Well, so the first part of the season is extremely tough for us just because we go three races within two months I think, so – or longer than that – but it’s just extremely tough to have all that time off. So now we finally get to get our season going again and get some races back‑to‑back. Yeah, it sucks the beginning part of the year, but on the other hand, it’s probably good for the teams to be able to go to the racetrack, and Daytona is typically not a place that’s very easy on equipment, so they’re able to – at Martinsville either for that matter – so they’re able to kind of take a break, regroup, and get going again for the main part of our year.”

Do you get to ask Kyle Busch any questions? (From Ben Rhodes.)
“Is that considered a question? I mean, we get to use him a little bit more than you (Ben Rhodes) do.”

BEN RHODES, No. 27 Safelite Auto Glass Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
How did the test earlier this month help you prepare for this weekend’s race?
“I’ll comment on that. Yeah, you know, I felt like the test session went really well for us. Our 27 Safelight Tundra was a lot faster at the end of the practice session than when we started. I honestly think that a lot of our speed last weekend at Kansas Speedway came from the test session. Last year I was a rookie but I still didn’t get to use any of my testing sessions. We had a lot of adversity we had to overcome at ThorSport last year, so now that we have time and I’m not a rookie, this is something that I really looked forward to, and we had so much stuff that we tried and worked on with Toyota, with our teammates, everybody, just coming into the practice session, and I think all that hard work finally paid off. “

Did you talk to Kyle Busch after last weekend?
“I texted him. I was like, ‘Hey, Kyle, Ben Rhodes here, my idol.’ I said – he was fast all night, obviously, as Kyle Busch. That’s what Kyle Busch does. And I asked him, I said, ‘I want to learn. I feel like you were doing a lot of things out there that was new to me,’ some of the things he was doing with side drafting and drafting, and his restarts was all new to me. As you guys know, when you run in the back and then you come to the front, it’s considerably different, so I was just asking him questions about the restarts and side drafting and different ways to kind of work traffic to be a little more efficient and not get myself in trouble like I did last year. What about you over there, Christopher Bell? Did you ask Kyle Busch any questions?”

Did Kyle Busch talk to you about how to move forward?
“Yeah, I definitely heard from him (Kyle Busch), and I feel like I’ve moved forward. You have to be focused forward after something like that happens. As these guys know, everybody in their career coming up will lose more than they win, so that’s just another notch in the notebook. But it stings because it was going to be our first win, but that’s fine. We’ve had a couple of those races last year where we were in good positions but nothing ever happened, so moving forward. I think the sting is away, but just positive. My crew chief Eddie (Troconis) is actually having a lot of fun with it. He took the bolt that went through our grille into our radiator and eventually expired the motor – he took that and put it on a gold chain and he’s saying it’s our good luck charm for this weekend, so we’re having a lot of fun with it and just rebounding from last weekend’s performance.”

BEN RHODES, No. 27 SafeLite Auto Glass Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing (continued)
Were you just watching at Eldora Speedway recently or testing?
“No, I was just watching. There were some people that were testing there and I saw the opportunity to go there and learn. Obviously, dirt is my weak spot having never done it except in a go‑kart and there you try to stay as straight as possible. Definitely want to get out to a dirt track as often as I can just to try to learn. I’m not saying I’m a very good dirt driver, but I like to go there and watch from the best and I think that there’s some things that you can pick up on outside the truck that you can apply later on if you’re really attentive and you go down to the corners, you talk to people, you kind of go around and like a journalist and interview everybody and just try to figure out what’s the best stuff that everybody does and try to combine that and figure out what I should be doing to be up front.”