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Tag: Brandon McSwain

  • Byron, Hendrick Motorsports scheduled for final Xfinity start of 2024 at Watkins Glen

    Byron, Hendrick Motorsports scheduled for final Xfinity start of 2024 at Watkins Glen

    The No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry from Hendrick Motorsports is scheduled to make its 10th and final appearance of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season this upcoming weekend at Watkins Glen International for the Mission 200 at The Glen with the reigning Daytona 500 champion William Byron at the helm of the wheel for the event.

    This past February, Hendrick Motorsports revealed its 10-race Xfinity Series schedule for its No. 17 “all-star” entry, which marked an increase to the organization’s third part-time campaign in the series after campaigning in four events in 2022 before returning for six in 2023. The 10-race schedule to the 2024 season featured all four of Hendrick’s Cup Series stars (Alex Bowman, William Byron, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson) and road-course ringer Boris Said each taking turns pilot the No. 17 car at least once. Throughout the schedule, Brandon McSwain, the lead engineer of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry in the Cup Series piloted by Byron, worked as the No. 17 entry’s crew chief in four events Byron competed in while former Xfinity championship-winning crew chief Greg Ives returned to work with the rest of the organization’s “all-star” lineup in the remaining six events.

    Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 17 Chevrolet Camaro entry commenced the 2024 season at Phoenix Raceway in early March, where Byron finished in 23rd place after he scraped the backstretch’s outside wall while trying to dodge a late multi-car wreck.

    Then two weeks later, Kyle Larson, the 2021 Cup Series champion, capitalized on a last-lap tussle involving rookie Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill amid two overtime shootouts to steer the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet entry to its first victory in the Xfinity Series at Circuit of the Americas. The victory occurred after Larson had pitted for fresh tires during a late-caution period prior to the overtime shootouts and was able to quickly weave his way to the front after restarting in 21st place. It also occurred after the Elk Grove, California, native started at the rear of the field due to his crew replacing a cracked brake rotor to the entry. With the victory, Larson recorded Hendrick Motorsports’ first Xfinity victory since Tony Stewart made the last accomplishment at Daytona International Speedway in 2009 and the organization’s first on a road course venue in the series.

    Two months later, Byron would finish in 11th place in his second start of the 2024 season at Darlington Raceway before Chase Elliott drove the No. 17 entry to his first Xfinity victory of the season at Charlotte Motor Speedway during Memorial Day weekend. Elliott’s Charlotte victory occurred after the 2020 Cup Series champion methodically drove his way from his 30th-starting spot and utilized pit strategy to lead the final 18 laps and beating runner-up Brandon Jones by half a second to notch his sixth career victory in the series and his first since winning the 2016 opener at Daytona. The victory marked a special moment for both Elliott and crew chief Greg Ives, both of whom won the Xfinity title with JR Motorsports in 2014, as the duo notched Hendrick Motorsports’ fifth series’ victory at Charlotte and the first since Kyle Busch made the last accomplishment in 2005. To date, Elliott also notched the 25th Xfinity career victory for Hendrick Motorsports.

    Two races later, Boris Said settled in 28th place at Sonoma Raceway after he started at the rear of the field in a backup car and was collected in a late multi-car wreck. Alex Bowman would then make his only Xfinity start of the season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway two races later, where he finished ninth, before Larson recorded a strong third-place run at the Chicago Street Course in early July after leading 12 laps. The Chicago event would mark Larson’s second and final Xfinity start of the 2024 season.

    A week later, Byron steered the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet entry to a third-place result at Pocono Raceway. Recently, Elliott finished fourth in his second and final Xfinity start of the 2024 season at Darlington Raceway.

    Through nine starts this season, Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 17 Chevrolet entry notched two victories, five top-five results and six top-10 results. To go along with the pair of victories at Circuit of the Americas and Charlotte, the top-five and top-10 results recorded for the entry are more than the entry’s previous recordings over the previous two seasons with an expanded schedule. In total, Hendrick Motorsports has notched 11 top-five results, including the two victories, and 13 top-10 results in 19 on-track appearances.

    For Byron, this upcoming weekend will mark his third Xfinity career start at Watkins Glen International, with his best series’ result being a 10th place run during his championship season in 2017. The Charlotte native will also strive for redemption at this course after he nearly won at The Glen in 2022, where he started on pole position, led a race-high 35 of 82 laps and was battling for the victory during a five-lap shootout until contact with Ty Gibbs sent both spinning through the Inner Loop turn. Byron would continue and settle in 25th place as Larson, who was piloting a HendrickCars.com-sponsored entry for JR Motorsports, would proceed to win the race.

    Byron and the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro team from Hendrick Motorsports are scheduled to compete in the upcoming Mission 200 at The Glen for a final pursuit of a checkered flag in 2024. The event is scheduled to occur this upcoming Saturday, September 14, and air at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Hendrick Motorsports returns the No. 17 entry for an expanded Xfinity schedule in 2024

    Hendrick Motorsports returns the No. 17 entry for an expanded Xfinity schedule in 2024

    Hendrick Motorsports will be fielding the No. 17 Chevrolet Camaro entry sponsored by HendrickCars.com for 10 NASCAR Xfinity Series events, an increase from the previous two seasons, featuring five accomplished competitors throughout the 2024 season.

    William Byron, the 2024 Daytona 500 champion, will first field the HMS No. 17 “all-star” entry at Phoenix Raceway on March 9. He will also compete at Darlington Raceway on May 11, Pocono Raceway on July 13 and conclude the entry’s 10-race program by competing at Watkins Glen International on September 14.

    During Byron’s four-race Xfinity slate, Brandon McSwain, a lead engineer for Byron and the No. 24 HMS team in the Cup Series who graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a mechanical engineering degree, will also serve as Byron’s Xfinity crew chief.

    Kyle Larson, the 2021 Cup Series champion, will return to pilot the No. 17 HendrickCars.com entry at Circuit of the Americas on March 23 and at the Chicago Street Course on July 6 while Chase Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion, will compete at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25 and at Darlington Raceway on August 31.

    Lastly, Alex Bowman, a three-time Daytona 500 pole winner, will make his lone Xfinity start of the season in the No. 17 entry at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 22 while Boris Said, an accomplished road-course ringer with victories in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring, will return to compete at Sonoma Raceway on June 8. Said, a former champion of the Rolex Sports Car Series GT Class, with a single victory across the Craftsman Truck Series and Xfinity Series, is also a partner at Hendrick Automotive Group’s BMW of Murrieta in Murrieta, California.

    For the events where Bowman, Elliott, Larson and Said pilot the No. 17 entry (six races total), Greg Ives, the 2014 Xfinity Series championship-winning crew chief with 10 Cup Series victories, will return to call the shots atop the No. 17 pit box.

    “The No. 17 is a big part of our story, and it would be special to see it win – and win often – during our 40th anniversary season,” Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports and chairman and CEO of Hendrick Automotive Group, said. “The sponsorship has been a big success for HendrickCars.com and our dealerships, and we’re pleased to add more races and take it to another level in 2024. It’s victory lane or bust.”

    Hendrick Motorsports first fielded the No. 17 HendrickCars.com entry in four Xfinity events in 2022, where Bowman, Byron and Larson contributed to a combined two poles, three top-five results and 71 laps led. The entry returned for six events in 2023, where Bowman, Byron, Rajah Caruth, Elliott and Larson contributed to a single pole, three top-three results, four top-10 results and 68 laps led.

    Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry is set to make its first start of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season with William Byron at Phoenix Raceway for the Call 811.com Every Dig. Every Time. 200 on March 9. The event’s broadcast time is scheduled to commence at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Mason Mingus Is Digging His Sophomore Truck Season

    Mason Mingus Is Digging His Sophomore Truck Season

    Mason Mingus is not only digging his sophomore season in the Camping World Truck Series, but is also digging his sponsor ‘Call 811.’

    As far as his season to date, the driver of the No. 15 Chevrolet Silverado for Billy Boat Racing, who is racing at Pocono this weekend, thinks that it has gone “pretty good so far.”

    “We’ve had our ups and downs so far but I think we’re definitely heading in the right direction,” Mingus said. “I’m definitely excited for the rest of the season. We’ve got a good crew in place now.”

    “My new crew chief Brandon McSwain came on at Texas has been doing a great job since that race. Everybody is working well together and building nice trucks.”

    “Usually it’s pretty tough to have someone step in and crew chief mid-season,” Mingus said. “But it’s been pretty seamless and he’s done a great job.”

    “As far as communication goes, we’ve been on the same page. He’s pretty young, only 25 years old. So, he’s not much older than me so I think that helps from a communication standpoint. It’s been an easier transition than we all expected.”

    “So, I’m really excited for this race and what’s coming.”

    While Mingus is digging this stretch of the race season, he definitely would like to put the early part of it in his rear view mirror.

    “The biggest challenge has been the first part of the season,” Mingus said. “We had some setbacks and didn’t make the first race of the season at Daytona due to the group qualifying situation that we were put in. We had a good truck there but just didn’t get it in the draft in qualifying.”

    “A couple things we had to go through at the beginning of the season were tough but now that we are building good trucks, we’re having a lot faster equipment, as well as opportunities to run up front.”

    The young racer is also digging moving through the ranks of racing as he has throughout his career to date. He started his racing career when he was seven in quarter midgets and has progressed to Late Models, ARCA and now the Truck Series.

    “For whatever reason, I really wanted to start racing,” Mingus said. “I kept bugging my dad about it and then when I got into that quarter midget, I fell in love with it from there.”

    “Nobody in my family raced except my uncle. But I didn’t even know about that until I started racing. For whatever reason, it just really interested me.”

    “I started there and moved up to different series and then got into Pro and Super Late Models and then into ARCA. Once I started racing, I did find out my uncle raced local short tracks. He had quit by the time I was born. But he did come back and I got to race against him. So, that was pretty cool.”

    “I won, but I had the better equipment. They took the good parts and put them all on my car. He got cheated a little bit I think.”

    Digging is also a part of Mingus’ sponsorship as well. He promotes “Call 811,” the underground damage prevention phone line, with the tagline “Call before you dig”.

    “Call 811, they’ve been on board with me just about since I started racing,” Mingus said. “My dad owns a construction company in Tennessee so he was actually on the Board at 811. So, we developed a relationship there.”

    “Basically they come out and locate underground utilities. So, my Dad used them a lot for his business because they need to locate underground utilities before they dig. A lot of people like my dad and those involved in construction already know this, but Call 811 is trying to get that same message out to the public.”

    “People who want to put in a new mailbox or plant a tree need to know to Call 811 because there may be dangers underground. That’s the message we are trying to get across to the general public and to race fans sitting in the stands.”

    “Call 811 got on board with me when I was twelve years old and from there we’ve gotten more and more states on board. We’ve got about ten or twelve states onboard right now.”

    “Every race track we go to, we have people asking us what Call 811 is. We travel so much across the country so to be able to educate so many people in the matter of a race season is pretty cool.”

    “This is a great organization to call that can potentially save lives and money as far as damages.”

    While Mingus is digging his current Truck ride, hoping to better his career best finish of ninth this year, he is also hoping to at some point take that next step into an even bigger series.

    “As far as the next step, we’ll take it as it comes,” Mingus said. “I’d love to be in an Xfinity car but obviously my ultimate goal is to race on Sunday in the Cup Series.”

    “But we have to take it one step at a time. Right now we are just worried about the remainder of the Truck season and trying to run as well as we can. We want to run upfront and contend for the wins as much as we can.”

    “So, we’ll see what comes next year.”