Gresham Will Hit the Ground Running at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Max Gresham will not have to go far to find the blueprint for success at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. All he has to do is ask his boss, team owner Eddie Sharp Jr.

 

A year ago Justin Lofton drove Eddie Sharp Racing (ESR) to a victory in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Gresham hopes to use the same winning setup in his No. 8 AmWINS Group Chevrolet during this Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race.

 

Eddie Sharp Racing clearly has an edge when it comes to 1.5-mile speedways. The team also won at the Homestead-Miami Speedway last November with driver Cale Gale.

 

The Milner, Georgia, native’s first Charlotte Motor Speedway start ended with a 24th-place finish a year ago. In addition to his one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start at Charlotte, he has had countless laps under the lights on the quarter-mile oval in the U.S. Legends Cars International (USLCI) series.

 

“It’s always nice to unload with a setup that’s already proven to be a success,” Gresham said. “ESR has a proven track record, especially on the intermediate tracks like Charlotte. Hopefully, between [crew chief] Showy (Chris Showalter) and I, we can tweak it just a little bit to make it even better.”

 

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has been off for nearly a month. The last time Gresham raced was April 20 at the Kansas Speedway. Gresham’s team used the time to go through all of their trucks.

 

“All of us would rather be racing every week, but every once in a while it’s good to take a step back and go through everything,” Showalter said. “You find plenty of little improvements, and you get some ideas of things you can change to make the truck race a little better. We may have been off the track for a month, but we’ve made good use of our time.”

 

Gresham, 20, will focus on his qualifying setup during one of two practice sessions on Thursday. The team has qualified 18th or better in every race, including a career-best ninth-place start a month ago at Kansas – another 1.5-mile speedway.

 

“The best way to pass somebody is to do it in qualifying,” Gresham said. “Every spot you gain in qualifying is one less truck you have to try to pass during the race. We’ve worked hard to find speed in our AmWINS Chevrolet Silverado. That search has paid off, and will allow us to concentrate on finding a balance for the race.

 

“We have a great starting point. We won’t veer too far off that winning setup. After all, we already know it works.”

 

Max Gresham PR