Category: XFINITY Series PR

JONES SCORES TOP-FIVE ON SUNDAY AT DOVER
Brandon Jones drives to best career Dover finish

DOVER, Delaware (August 23, 2020) – Brandon Jones (fourth) drove to a top-five finish to lead Toyota in the Drydene 200 at the Dover International Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Dover International Speedway
Race 21 of 33 – 200 miles, 200 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Chase Briscoe*
2nd, Ross Chastain*
3rd, Austin Cindric*
4th, BRANDON JONES
5th, Daniel Hemric*
9th, RILEY HERBST
11th, HARRISON BURTON
24th, CHAD FINCHUM
28th, STEFAN PARSONS
31st, STEPHEN LEICHT
34th, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

BRANDON JONES, No. 19 Menards/Pelonis Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 4th

How was your run today?

“I’ve never been here (with the struggle to pass) and I know it’s tough to pass here but struggled to pass so much. We had a car in that third stage capable of leading some laps. I just would get to somebody and stall out or run right with them. Kind of weird and need to go study that. All in all, we brought a really good Supra for the day. Menards, Pelonis – everyone that helps out here is really amazing. We’ll take a fourth from yesterday, how that went, and go to Daytona.”

What challenges did your team face today and were you able to improve from yesterday with the balance of the car?

“We kind of started the day not 100 percent like we wanted to. We were still just on the free side a little bit to fire off. That’s how our day was all day yesterday as well. We made a bunch of changes overnight and still had the same balance or close to it anyway. It’s kind of interesting there. That last stage and really all the way through the second stage as well, we found a lot of grip late in the run and that’s when our Supra was really coming to life there. I think those were the two biggest things that we really caught up on today. We got our car a lot better just on that long run speed-wise. Really good and I thought I worked traffic today really well. I think that was one of our strong suits. Some guys would catch the lappers on exit and that would really stall them out bad. We did a good job of timing that. We passed a bunch of people that way too. You kind of had to get creative today to pass people, it was really difficult. Using those lapped cars to your advantage and timing those runs right were pretty key there at the end.”

How do you transition from this doubleheader weekend at Dover and now head to the Daytona superspeedway event Friday night?

“We don’t go much more opposite than this – going from a track like Dover to a track like Daytona. We’ve always been pretty good at plate tracks. Getting a lot better at understanding the draft. Earlier this year, I made it a point to just really show that I’m going to pull out and try to make moves. That kind of paid off at the end of the race. If you continue to do that all day, people take note and I think that’s kind of the key to getting up there and getting a pack going is all day, sometimes you have to sacrifice some positions to show that you’re willing to make moves. As I race on these tracks, I start to figure out little things like that, which could possibly help.”

RILEY HERBST, No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 9th

Two top-10 finishes this weekend at Dover. How was your race today?

“I thought we had a decent Monster Energy Supra. I don’t think we were as good as yesterday balance-wise. We had to go to the back for an uncontrolled tire, so had some fun passing some race cars, but all-in-all, we just need a little more speed to contend for the win, but it was a good learning day.”

Next up is Daytona, where you set on the Truck Series pole in the spring. What is your excitement level to get back to a superspeedway?

“I wish the (qualifying) formula would have went off yesterday, not today’s race. We could have been starting top-five maybe, but we will see where the formula puts us for the superspeedway. I think we will have a fast Supra, and we will go give them something in Daytona.”

# # #

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold nearly 2.8 million cars and trucks (nearly 2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2019.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.

Anthony Alfredo and the ADS/Footing First Chevrolet Team Score 11th Place Finish in Monster Mile Debut

Finish: 11th
Start: 26th
Points: 10th

“We had a solid 11th place finish today in our No. 21 ADS/Footing First Chevrolet. I wish we could’ve had a top-10 finish, but we had to fight forward from a 26th starting position today. We worked our way inside the top 15 fairly quickly. It was just extremely difficult to pass here. My Richard Childress Racing guys did awesome on pit road. My crew chief, Andy Street, and spotter, Derek Kneeland, both did a great job helping me figure this place out and get the car better, especially for that last run. It was much closer to where it needed to be at the end of the race. We need to do a little more work to prepare for tomorrow, but with the invert of the top-15 positions, we should be starting around fifth. Hopefully we can capitalize on that! I’m thankful to have ADS Pipe and Footing First on board our Chevrolet Camaro. Overall, it was a solid run and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race.” -Anthony Alfredo

Team Penske NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Report
Track: Dover International Speedway: Race 1
Race: Drydene 200
Date: August 22, 2020
___________________________________________________
No. 22 PPG Ford Mustang – Austin Cindric
Start: 1st
Stage 1: 1st (Ninth stage win of 2020)
Stage 2: 2nd
Finish: 2nd
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 200/200
Laps Led: 49
Point Standings (ahead of second): 1st (+72)

Notes:

Austin Cindric and the No. 22 PPG Ford Mustang team won a stage and finished a close second in the Drydene 200 Saturday afternoon at Dover International Speedway. The Mooresville, N.C. native led 49 laps and racked up his seventh consecutive finish second or better. Cindric leads all drivers with nine stage wins this season and has finished eighth or better in five starts at Dover. The driver of the No. 22 PPG Ford Mustang continues to lead the NXS driver standings, 72 markers ahead of second place, Chase Briscoe.

Cindric started first in the 200-mile, 200-lap race after the field was per the rule book and led wire to wire to win the first 45-lap stage despite his Mustang being tight on exit. Crew chief Brian Wilson called him to pit road during the stage caution for four tires, fuel, and minor adjustments and Cindric restarted second when the race went green on lap 51.

Soon after the race restarted Cindric fell in line third and said he was loose. He had a close call on lap 77 when Chase Briscoe spun while inside Cindric off Turn 2, bringing out the third caution. Cindric restated third and fought back to finish second when Stage 2 concluded on lap 90. Wilson once again made the call to pit during the stage caution for four tires and adjustments to the PPG Ford and Cindric restarted fourth when the race restarted on lap 96.

Cindric wasted no time recapturing the runner-up position, quickly moving up to second. The fifth caution on lap 150 fell within the fuel window to make it to the end of the race. Cindric pitted for service under the yellow and restarted along leader Justin Allgaier on lap 154. But despite his best efforts, the driver of the PPG Ford couldn’t find a way around his rival over the final 46 laps.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to action tomorrow afternoon at Dover, the completion of its doubleheader weekend. The green flag is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET with live coverage on NBCSN, MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio

Quote: “Track position was extremely important. The track didn’t quite move around. When we’d get a restart about 10-15 laps in you could be good being the first guy up or making hay in traffic, but we have some things we can execute better on, but it was a great points day and getting our PPG Mustang in the top three is great and hopefully it’s something to build on for tomorrow.”

NASCAR XFINITY SERIES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 2020
DRYDENE 200 – DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
FORD PERFORMANCE DRIVER – POST RACE QUOTES

FORD FINISHING RESULTS:
2nd — Austin Cindric
10th — Chase Briscoe

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 22 PPG Ford Mustang — “Track position was extremely important. The track didn’t quite move around. When we’d get a restart about 10-15 laps in you could be good being the first guy up or making hay in traffic, but we have some things we can execute better on, but it was a great points day and getting our PPG Mustang in the top three is great and hopefully it’s something to build on for tomorrow.”

HOW VALUABLE IS IT TO HAVE A SOLID DAY TODAY? “It makes it a lot easier for my team, I can tell you that. I had a great battle there with Justin. Obviously, he wanted it really bad. I knew that wasn’t gonna be an easy pass, so hopefully we can take it to him tomorrow. I mean, he drove the wheels off that thing. I don’t know if you guys watched my onboard camera much, but he was sideways from the beginning of the run to the end of the run, so props to him and those guys and we’ll try to do better tomorrow.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 98 Highpoint.com Ford Mustang — WHAT HAPPENED AND WHAT WERE YOU DEALING WITH? “The wreck, I haven’t seen it, but I felt like I was really loose as it was and it would just get so tight there off of two and arou nd the air it just spun me out so fast and it knocked the toe out and everything else. The wheel was going 11 o’clock to 1 o’clock and I was all but wrecking down every straightaway and we were burying the splitter, so to come back and run 10th is obviously really good for our Highpoint.com Ford. Obviously, I want a lot more. The way these last six or seven races have gone we haven’t been where we had been earlier in the year, so I feel like we can get it turned around tomorrow. We’ll probably go to a backup and hopefully it’s a little bit better.”

HOW MUCH OF A CHALLENGE COMING FROM THE BACK IN A BACKUP? “I didn’t even realize I was gonna have to start in the back. That’s gonna be tough, but we did it here last year. We qualified on the pole and still had to start last and came back and led a lot of laps. I think the biggest thing is you don’t know how that car is gonna drive. We can tune on what we thought this one needed, but that other car, even though they’re built the exact same, can always drive different. Hopefully, we’re a little bit better tomorrow. I felt like we were pretty decent today, but we just never got clean air and I think that would have made a big difference, so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 22 PPG Ford Mustang — WHAT HAS MADE THIS TEAM SO STRONG THIS SUMMER? “I think we’ve honestly been strong all year. I feel like we’ve brought some incredibly fast race cars since the start of the season with Vegas as a great example all the way up to Kentucky and now. I’m proud of that effort and my guys have been working hard. I do the best I can to prepare. I love coming to this racetrack. I’m glad we had a really good run here today. Hopefully, we can learn from today, apply it to tomorrow and maybe execute just a little bit better. It was a little bit of a track position race, but you can’t get too caught up in trying to win every race because these things are pretty hard to do. To come away with a second-place finish and Justin was obviously really hungry. That was gonna be a hard pass to make if it wasn’t on pit road, so congrats to him and try and do one spot better tomorrow.”

HOW DO YOU THINK THE TRACK WITH CHANGE TOMORROW? “When we’ve done the doubleheader weekends at Homestead and Kentucky I’ve tried as best as we could as a team to use it as a learning experience. I mean, we know we don’t have practice for the rest of the year, so whatever we can do to make our race cars better between the two races, you’re never gonna have a better A to B. Now, I will say being where we’re located geographically that there’s a good chance the track will be wet and it will be green again, but that’s kind of how this racetrack ebbs and flows. I expect the racetrack to be starting about the same tomorrow morning as it is now.”

DID YOU GET A GOOD LAUNCH ON THE BOTTOM AND WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THAT LANE? “It was a track position race and if I was gonna give myself any shot to win the race, it was gonna be on a restart. Finishing second or finishing third nobody really cares. It doesn’t really matter. When you’re NASCAR racing you don’t get a trophy for it and the points are a small difference, so try and win races. That’s probably why I did it. That’s the conversation I had with myself. In Ross’ shoes, I probably would have done the same thing he did, picking the second row on the top, but obviously we were able to take advantage of it and still hold the second-place track position, but, yeah, I did it to try and give myself a shot at the win.”

THOUGHTS ON THE CHOOSE CONE? “At this track I’m not sure it affects it as much as when you’d maybe go somewhere like Michigan or maybe Texas at the latter part of the year — Martinsville. I saw it being 50/50 as far as your advantage to gain a whole lot, especially if you’re within the top five — you kind of just do whatever the other guy doesn’t do. But, it was fine. I think the communication for that, you have to really nail down with your spotter, especially as it gets more complicated, but I’m all for it.”

WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE IN THIS ZONE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW? “Honestly, some of it’s not up to me, but I’m the one driving the race car. I feel very blessed to be within a group of guys that feed off each other. My guys know how hard I work, whether if it’s working out in the middle of the week or preparation during the week. I know how hard they work at the race shop and the same thing applies when we hit the racetrack. We’re prepared and we feed off of each other’s talents. I’m surrounded by a lot of talented people, so when you put all that together and you execute on a race weekend and you have great equipment and great partners, a lot is possible. I’m glad that as my boss would say, ‘Effort Equal Results.’ I don’t expect it to be easy for the whole year, but not that this has been easy. I felt like I drove my butt off today and you’ve got to do that every race and that’s what makes this fun, that’s what makes it challenging, so it makes me look forward to tomorrow.”

HOW MUCH ATTENTION ARE YOU PAYING TO INDY RIGHT NOW? “I was almost late to the airport watching Carb Day practice, so if that tells you anything. I’ll probably be asking for in-race updates at the stage breaks tomorrow. This will be the first time in a really long time, probably since I was one or two years old, that I haven’t been at the Indy 500. That fact that one of my favorite racetracks turned out to be a doubleheader weekend and prevented me from going to the Indy 500 is kind of a bummer, but it’s obviously a strange year there anyway. It’s definitely a passion of mine. It’s definitely got a lot of family history for me. That’s a place where both sides of my family have a lot of history. For my immediate family, myself, my mom, my brother and my dad, that’s somewhere, whether my brother has been in college or he lives in England now — whatever the four of us are all doing in life we get to meet up there every year and sit on the pit wall during the grid walk and just kind of watch the world go by and watch a great race. I know there’s a lot of family traditions and that’s why I know it’s so hard for Mr. Penske to not have fans. There’s a loyal fan base for that race and obviously the spectacle that it is, but I promise you I’ll be watching on TV and rooting on our four cars.”

DO YOU HAVE A PICK FOR TOMORROW? “It seems like Newgarden is probably one of our best cars and Dixon is probably an easy pick. I think Rossi will be there at the end, but if I’m 100 percent honest I would love to see Helio win his fourth. I know it would be a strange year to do it, but that guy has worked so hard. He’s coming off his first rain win at Road America. I know how happy he was about that, so I want it really bad for him. Hopefully, he can find his way to the front and pull it off.”

BURTON, HERBST DRIVE TO SOLID FINISHES AT DOVER
Rookie Harrison Burton earns 10th top-five finish of the season.

DOVER, Delaware (August 22, 2020) – Harrison Burton (fifth) and Riley Herbst (sixth) scored top-10 finishes to lead Toyota in the Drydene 200 at the Dover International Speedway on Saturday afternoon.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Dover International Speedway
Race 20 of 33 – 200 miles, 200 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Justin Allgaier*
2nd, Austin Cindric*
3rd, Ross Chastain*
4th, Noah Gragson*
5th, HARRISON BURTON
6th, RILEY HERBST
16th, BRANDON JONES
22nd, STEPHEN LEICHT
26th, STEFAN PARSONS
29th, CHAD FINCHUM
36th, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

HARRISON BURTON, No. 20 Fields/DEX Imaging Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 5th

How was your run today overall?

“It was a good run. We weren’t as good as we wanted to be today. We had a fast Fields/DEX Imaging Supra – on the long run especially. That last run, I’ve never been that loose into turn three here. Chattering the left-rear tire and the right-rear tire, pretty scary feeling. Really happy that we got a top-five out of it. Felt like we ran better than that all day. Should have been better than that. As bad as it was at the end there compared to how good we were in the beginning, I’m happy we kind of ran somewhat similar. Overall, a good day. Got good stage points and everything. It all matters, it all adds up. Hopefully we can go kick their butts tomorrow.”

Where did your team need to be better in order to run with the 7 and the 22 in today’s race?
“At the end of the race, we were just really loose on corner entry. Especially into turn three. That just puts you behind the whole way through the corner. You lose your entry speed and then you have to try to make it up in the center and end up getting tight normally. Then it messes up your corner exit. Being loose in is really tough. I think we did a good job adjusting all day and just had a heat cycle on tires and it went completely the other way – just got super, super loose. That was strange. I feel like we need to tighten up for tomorrow, but not really sure why it took such a huge swing and started chattering the rear tires. We’re going to look into that more and hopefully come back tomorrow and get the win.”

What will you go to work on tonight and how will you prepare for tomorrow’s race?

“The biggest thing is just watching the race back and seeing what, as a driver, what you can do better. I have great confidence in my guys to make the right calls and put us in good situations balance-wise for the race tomorrow. I feel like I’m excited. If you give us some time to go to work, normally my guys are going to be better than everyone else. I’m definitely excited to come back tomorrow and hopefully put it on.”

RILEY HERBST, No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 6th

How was your race today?

“It was good. It was good to come home sixth. I should have been a little higher. Our Monster Energy Supra was a fourth-place race car. Track position is so difficult here. It was a good learning day. We have another shot tomorrow, so hopefully we will be able to go get ‘Miles,’ a super cool trophy.”

What do you think that you learned today that will translate into tomorrow?

“Just the way the track rubbers up and changes throughout the race will definitely affect tomorrow’s setup and how we approach tomorrow.”

# # #

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold nearly 2.8 million cars and trucks (nearly 2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2019.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.

SS GreenLight Racing | NASCAR Xfinity Series
Dover (Del.) International Speedway | Drydene 200

Fast Facts
No. 08 SS GreenLight Racing Team:
Driver: Joe Graf Jr. (@JoeGrafJr)
Primary Partner(s): Bucked Up Energy | Core Development | EAT SLEEP RACE
Manufacturer: Chevrolet Camaro
Crew Chief: Patrick Donahue
Starting Position for Drydene 200: 23rd (Event Formula)
Driver Points Position: 22nd
Owner Points Position: 27th

Chassis Intel: SSGLR Chassis No. 708; competed last at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway on June 28, 2020 (Start: 25th | Finish: 35th)
Last competed at Dover International Speedway on May 4, 2019 (Start: 21st | Finish: 20th)
Engine: Earnhardt-Childress Racing Engines (ECR)

Notes of Interest:

Full of Energy: Bucked Up Energy will continue its role as the primary partner of Graf’s No. 08 Chevrolet Camaro. Dover International Speedway is the 12th race in a multi-year, multi-race deal with the former ARCA Menards Series winner.

Bucked Up is the everyman (or woman) energy drink. We don’t care about the color of your collar; whether blue or white, we all require energy to power our days. We want something that tastes like success, enhances mood and focus, and most of all delivers long-lasting energy.

Joe Graf Jr. Xfinity Series Dover International Speedway Starts: Joe Graf Jr. will make his “Monster Mile” debut in this weekend’s doubleheader at Dover International Speedway.

Triple Duty: In addition to this weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Dover International Speedway, Joe Graf Jr. will also compete in Friday afternoon’s General Tire 125 ARCA Menards Series East race for Visconti Motorsports.

Graf is utilizing his third career ARCA Menards Series East start to gain valuable track time ahead of 400 laps of Xfinity competition Saturday and Sunday.

For The Triple Time: This weekend, the NASCAR Xfinity Series will run their penultimate doubleheader weekend at Miles’ Monster Mile. Earlier this season, Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway and Kentucky Speedway both hosted doubleheader weekend for the Xfinity Series.

At Homestead, Graf Jr. finished 16th and 13th respectively, while in the Bluegrass state of Kentucky, the former ARCA Menards Series winner earned a 13th and 22nd place finish, respectively.

The final doubleheader weekend for the series occurs next month at Richmond (Va.) Raceway, the site of Graf’s best finish last season in Xfinity.

Joe Graf Jr. Xfinity Series Speedway Nuggets: At tracks classified as speedways with a track length of 1.0-mile and greater, Graf has 11 previous NASCAR Xfinity Series starts.

He holds an average starting position of 24.2 and an average result of 20.7 and has been running at the conclusion of 10 of the 11 events.

Welcome Aboard: On Thursday, Graf Jr. announced a new partnership with the band AVOID.

Exploding out of Seattle, Wash., hotly-tipped hard rock five-piece AVOID have been rapidly making a name for themselves to their electrifying live shows and an unabashed experimental approach to music.

The result is an alchemistic audio dose of heavy hedonism; the stamp of a young act unafraid to equally embrace both their innovation and individuality.

Forming in 2017, AVOID’s debut full length ‘Alone’ was released in 2018, garnering more than 1.5 million streams to date and strong Spotify playlisting support. The record debuted at No. 3 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Pacific Chart.

Coming Soon: Joe Graf Jr. will unveil a new Bucked Up Energy paint scheme for next Friday night’s Wawa 250 powered by Coca-Cola. The 22-year-old will make his third Xfinity Series start at the “World Center of Racing.”

The Second Half: Despite the coronavirus pandemic which shuttered NASCAR Xfinity Series races for more than two months, the series recently reached the halfway point of their season at Kansas Speedway in late July.

19 races down, 14 races to go, Graf Jr. is ranked 22nd in the Xfinity Series championship standings and looks to improve his average finish of 23rd over the final three months of the season.

Sneaker Mania: Along with the adrenaline of Motorsports competition, Joe Graf Jr. also has a vogue for hype sneakers. In his current collection, he owns and wears at least 80 limited edition sneakers – and his collection continues to grow every month.

Did You Know? While NASCAR Xfinity Series competition was idle during the coronavirus pandemic for two months, Joe Graf Jr. got busy.

Whether it was working out, spending time on iRacing in the Pro Series Invitational or Saturday Night Thunder, Graf recently gave an insider view on how his quarantine went and offered even a little insight on himself as a person.

Click here to watch the video.

From the Pit Box: Industry veteran Patrick Donahue is Joe Graf Jr.’s crew chief. He will crew chief his 173rd and 174th NASCAR Xfinity Series races on Saturday and Sunday. In his previous 172 races, he has two wins, eight top-five and 14 top-10 finishes to his resume.

He has eight prior Xfinity races as crew chief at Dover with a best finish of 13th in September 2002 with Brian Vickers.

This Is 2020: Entering Dover, Graf Jr. has 22 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts to his credit with four top-15 and eight top-20 finishes. After 19 races in 2020, he stands 22nd in the championship standings with 14 races remaining.

Hello From The Other Side: Graf Jr. has a teammate at SS GreenLight Racing. Veteran David Star returns to the seat of the No. 07 SS GreenLight Racing Chevrolet on Saturday.

The 52-year-old will make his seventh start of 2020 and third with SS GreenLight Racing.

Follow on Social Media: For more on Joe Graf Jr. visit JoeGrafJr.com, like him on Facebook (Joe Graf Jr.), follow him on Twitter (@JoeGrafJr) and Instagram (@joegrafjr).

For more on SS GreenLight Racing, please like them on Facebook (SS GreenLight Racing) and follow them on Twitter (@SSGLR0708) and visit their website at SSGreenLight.com.
Joe Graf Jr. Pre-Race Quotes:

On Daytona International Speedway Road Course: “It wasn’t the finish we were hoping for. Made some gains throughout the race but unfortunately, after going down a lap early – we never could get back on the lead lap to contend for a stronger finish.

“The last couple of road courses have been very challenging and demanding but I learned a lot but I’m excited to get back to the ovals next weekend for a doubleheader weekend at Dover.”

On Dover International Speedway Doubleheader: “I’m looking forward to the challenge of Dover this weekend. I understand it’s a very demanding race track with a lot of speed and requires a lot of finesse.

“I am thankful that the opportunity arose to drive the No. 74 Bucked Up Energy Ford for Visconti Motorsports in the ARCA Menards Series East. I’m confident that we’ll not only have a strong race to contend for the win – but also give me priceless experience that will help me for the rest of the weekend in the Xfinity Series.

On New Partnership With The Band AVOID: “This is very cool. I’m excited to partner with a group like AVOID who like myself is moving up in their respective industry. Their passion and desire to be a part of NASCAR is contagious and I’m looking forward to growing this relationship with the SS GreenLight Racing team.”

Race Information:

The Drydene 200 (200 laps | 200 miles) is the 20th of 33 NASCAR Xfinity Series races on the 2020 schedule. The 36-car field will take the green flag shortly after 12:30 p.m. on Sat., Aug. 22, 2020, with live coverage on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite Radio, Channel 90). All times are local (Eastern).

The Drydene 200 (200 laps | 200 miles) is the 21st of 33 NASCAR Xfinity Series races on the 2020 schedule. The 36-car field will take the green flag shortly after 1:00 p.m. on Sun., Aug. 23, 2020, with live coverage on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite Radio, Channel 90). All times are local (Eastern).

About SS Green Light Racing:

As one of the most tenured teams in all of NASCAR, SS GreenLight Racing has been a developmental hub for drivers looking to climb the ranks. Led by owner and former driver Bobby Dotter, the team has fielded entries in either the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series or the Xfinity Series competition since 2001.

Coming off a successful 2019 Xfinity campaign, SS GreenLight Racing looks to build further momentum with their two-car program in 2020.

MOORESVILLE, N.C.: As the NASCAR Xfinity Series steers towards a doubleheader at the “Monster Mile” this weekend, rookie driver Joe Graf Jr. has brought another new partnership to the industry by teaming with the rising band AVOID to serve as an associate marketing partner for both races at Dover (Del.) International Speedway and the remainder of the 2020 Xfinity Series season.

Exploding out of Seattle, Wash., hotly-tipped hard rock five-piece AVOID has been rapidly making a name for themselves to their electrifying live shows and an unabashed experimental approach to music.

The result is an alchemistic audio dose of heavy hedonism; the stamp of a young act unafraid to equally embrace both their innovation and individuality.

Forming in 2017, AVOID’s debut full length ‘Alone’ was released in 2018, garnering more than 1.5 million streams to date and strong Spotify playlisting support. The record debuted at No. 3 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Pacific Chart.

“This is very cool,” said Graf Jr., who drives the No. 08 Bucked Up Energy Chevrolet Camaro for SS GreenLight Racing. “I’m excited to partner with a group like AVOID who like myself is moving up in their respective industry. Their passion and desire to be a part of NASCAR is contagious and I’m looking forward to growing this relationship with the SS GreenLight Racing team.”

AVOID’s new single “Song About James” is featured alongside another new track “HEAT” on the now-available video game NASCAR Heat 5, taken from their upcoming release The Burner which will be released on Nov 6, 2020, through Revival Recordings.

Their latest song, “Song About James” exploded on the airwaves last week, premiering on Sirius XM Octane in hyper rotation as an “accelerator artist to watch.”

AVOID is thrilled to take their excitement from the virtual world to the real world at Dover.
“We’re so excited about this partnership with Joe Graf Jr.,” said AVOID’s Benny Scholl. “Being NASCAR fans our whole life, partnering with a driver is honestly like a dream come true!

“We’ve always taken the approach of “how can we be different than everyone else right now?” in the music world, and when this opportunity presented itself, it was a no brainer on our end to try and make this happen.

“We’re really grateful for how this all worked out and look forward to rooting on Joe and the No. 08 Chevrolet the rest of the year.”

The Drydene 200 (200 laps | 200 miles) is the 20th of 33 NASCAR Xfinity Series races on the 2020 schedule. The 36-car field will take the green flag shortly after 12:30 p.m. on Sat., Aug. 22, 2020, with live coverage on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite Radio, Channel 90). All times are local (Eastern).

The Drydene 200 (200 laps | 200 miles) is the 21st of 33 NASCAR Xfinity Series races on the 2020 schedule. The 36-car field will take the green flag shortly after 1:00 p.m. on Sun., Aug. 23, 2020, with live coverage on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite Radio, Channel 90). All times are local (Eastern).

For more on AVOID, please visit their website, like them on Facebook, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

For more on Joe Graf Jr. visit JoeGrafJr.com., like him on Facebook (Joe Graf Jr.), follow him on Twitter (@JoeGrafJr) and Instagram (@joegrafjr).

JR MOTORSPORTS TEAM PREVIEW:
TRACK: Dover International Speedway
RACE 1: Drydene 200 (200 laps / 200 miles)
RACE 2: Drydene 200 (200 laps / 200 miles)
DATE 1: Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020
DATE 2: Sunday, Aug. 23, 2020

Broadcast Information Race One – TV: 12:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN / Radio: 12 p.m. ET on MRN and Sirius XM Ch. 90
Broadcast Information Race Two – TV: 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN / Radio: 12:30 p.m. ET on MRN and Sirius XM Ch. 90

Jeb Burton
Race One: No. 8 State Water Heaters Chevrolet
• Jeb Burton is set to make his sixth start this season behind the wheel of the No. 8 Chevrolet in the first of two races at Dover on Saturday.
• Burton has recorded a best finish of 12th in two previous starts in the NXS at Dover.
• Burton has also scored a best finish of ninth in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series at the 1-mile oval.
• State Water Heaters, a leader in the water heating industry, will be on board the No. 8 for the second time in 2020 on Saturday in Dover.

Justin Allgaier
Race One & Two: No. 7 FFA Chevrolet
• Justin Allgaier is a previous winner at Dover, leading 104 laps on his way to a victory in 2018. In his past five starts at the track, he’s finished third or better.
• In 18 NXS starts at the track, the 34-year-old driver has eight top fives and 11 top 10s, including his win.
• In Allgaier’s most recent start at Dover last fall, he led 67 laps and swept the first two stages, taking home a runner-up finish.
• This season, Allgaier has led 207 laps on tracks measuring 1 mile or less and claimed two stage wins.

Noah Gragson
Race One & Two: No. 9 Bass Pro Shops / TrueTimber / Black Rifle Coffee Chevrolet
• Noah Gragson has three starts in the NXS at Dover with a best finish of seventh coming in the Spring of 2019.
• At tracks that are between 1-2 miles in length, Gragson has an average finish of 9.5 including eight top fives, 19 top 10s and 413 laps led.
• After 19 races in the 2020 season, Gragson leads the way for JRM with two wins, nine top fives, 13 top 10s and is currently third in the championship standings.
• Gragson is currently tied for the series lead in stage wins. He has scored a total of eight in the 2020 season.

Michael Annett
Race One & Two: No. 1 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet
• Michael Annett enters this week’s races at Dover International Speedway having recorded top-10 finishes in
seven of the last eight NASCAR Xfinity Series events.
• Annett is on a streak of two straight top-10 finishes at Dover, having finished 10th and sixth last season.
• Annett is always around at the end at Dover, having completed all but 10 of the 3,214 laps of competition in his starts there. His best finish is third, in the fall of 2012.
• Annett’s average finish of 12.7 is his second best among the tracks on the schedule, behind only Kentucky at 11.1.

Daniel Hemric
Race Two: No. 8 Poppy Bank Chevrolet
• Daniel Hemric will be piloting the No. 8 Poppy Bank Chevrolet for the second of two NXS events at Dover on Sunday.
• In four previous NXS starts at the Monster Mile, Hemric has two top fives and three top 10s with a best finish of third coming in May of 2018.
• Hemric has made a combined eight starts at Dover between the NASCAR Cup Series, NXS and the Truck Series, recording a combined three top fives and five top 10s.
• Through 13 NXS starts in 2020, Hemric has earned a best finish of second at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.

Driver Quotes

“Dover is a good track for us on the No. 1 Pilot Flying J team. We have good cars there and the racing seems to suit my style. We are in good shape in the points, and we need to hit that extra gear for the playoffs. Dover is a good place to do that. We’ve been on a roll here lately with a lot of top-10 finishes and we are after a couple more this weekend.” – Michael Annett

“Dover is a place where we have had a lot of success at in the past, so I’m really looking forward to heading there for the doubleheader weekend. We’re also fortunate to have a great organization on the car. FFA does a lot to empower today’s youth through agricultural education and I’m honored to be able to display their colors on our Camaro and bring more awareness to what they do. I can’t think of a better way to do that than to get them to Victory Lane.” – Justin Allgaier

“I can’t wait to get to Dover this weekend with our State Water Heaters Chevrolet. I feel extremely confident that we will unload with a lot of speed and be in contention all day long. State has always been such a great supporter through the years and hopefully we can give them a great run and be in contention for the win when it counts at the end on Saturday.” – Jeb Burton

“Dover has always been a track that I have enjoyed going to. Whether that be here in the Xfinity Series, or in the trucks or a Cup car, it’s just been a track that has really suited me over the years. That gives me a ton of confidence heading into the second half of this weekend’s doubleheader. Hopefully Jeb (Burton) can have a solid day and be in contention on Saturday and then we can follow suit and fight for the victory on Sunday. I’m ready to get there and see what we can do.” – Daniel Hemric

“Dover was a pretty good track for me when I was in the Truck Series and it has been fairly good for me while in the NXS. I’ve finished seventh here two times and I think our No. 9 JR Motorsports team is back on the right path. We’ve been able to run up ,front and have scored a couple top-10 finishes these last couple of weeks so I am hopeful we can continue these strong runs and be there towards the end both on Saturday and Sunday.” – Noah Gragson

JRM Team Updates
• JRM at the Monster Mile: In 67 NXS starts at Dover International Speedway, JR Motorsports has scored three wins, 21 top five and 41 top-10 finishes. Brad Keselowski scored the organization’s first victory at 1-mile oval in May 2009 with Regan Smith and Justin Allgaier following suit in October 2015 and May 2018, respectively.
• JRM Doubleheader Weekends: This weekend’s doubleheader in Dover marks the third time in 2020 that the NASCAR Xfinity Series will be racing at the same venue twice in one weekend. In the two previous doubleheader weekends at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Kentucky Speedway, JRM has earned a combined five top fives and nine top 10s.
• FFA’s Give the Gift of Blue: This weekend Justin Allgaier’s No. 7 Camaro will feature a special blue and gold FFA scheme that highlight’s the national youth organization’s Give the Gift of Blue program, which helps provide the official FFA jacket to members who would otherwise be unable to own their own. This year, the National FFA Foundation was able to gift its 10,000th jacket through the program. For more information on the FFA Give the Gift of Blue program or to make a donation, click here or visit FFA.org/GIVEblue.

Ross Chastain Notes
Best start at Dover International Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS): 10th (2019)
Best finish at Dover International Speedway in the NXS: 12th (2016, 2017 & 2019)

Kaulig Racing Notes
Best start Dover International Speedway in the NXS: 8th (2018)
Best finish at Dover International Speedway in the NXS: 4th (2019)

Doubleheader Race Notes
Saturday, August 22 at 12:30PM ET on NBCSN
Stages: 45/90/200 Laps
Sunday, August 23 at 1:30pm ET on NBCSN
Stages: 45/90/200 Laps

Ross Chastain Quote
“It’s finally Dover weekend. I’m so ready to go to the Monster Mile. I’ve spent so much time there over the years, a lot of people think that I might be from there, but I’m not. I just really enjoy the track, the people and the state. I can’t wait to get up there in our BeAMoose.org Chevy No. 10 car. We think we will have a chance to win. We’ve really put a lot of effort into this race. I want to run good, and the team wants to go get two victories for our double header.

Driving off into turn one is unlike any other track on the circuit. It’s such an adrenaline rush, and I can’t wait to get up there and go racing in the Xfinity Series. We’ll see what we’ve got.”

About Kaulig Racing™
Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time multi-car 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. Kaulig Racing fields two full-time entries; the No. 10 Chevrolet driven by Ross Chastain and the No. 11 Chevrolet driven by Justin Haley, as well as, a part-time entry – the No. 16 driven by AJ Allmendinger. Kaulig Racing™ earned two wins in 2019 and have come to be one of the top competitors on track each weekend. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.