John King No. 7 CONSOL Energy Toyota Tundra Rockingham Speedway Advance

ANOTHER RECORD FOR THE BOOKS: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender John King continues his championship points lead after earning a ninth place finish at Martinsville Speedway. This marks the first time in series history that a rookie has led the standings after multiple events. King leads the standings by one point over teammate, Timothy Peters.

HE’S BEEN TO THE ROCK: This weekend won’t be the first time King has made laps around Rockingham Speedway. In 2009, King competed in a UARA-STARS event at the one-mile oval. He started the event in the 21st position and navigated his way through the field towards the top 10, but a late race incident relegated him to an 18th-place finish. King spent time at ‘The Rock’ last month for the Goodyear tire test. Though he did not get any seat time, King gained insight from Peters and the No. 17 Toyota Tundra team.

CONSOL ENERGY SUPPORT: CONSOL Energy has joined forces with John King and Red Horse Racing as primary sponsor for the No. 7 Toyota Tundra this weekend at Rockingham Speedway. Nearing its 150th anniversary, CONSOL Energy, which began production in 1864, is the leading diversified fuel producer in the Eastern United States, producing both coal and natural gas. It holds safety and environmental compliance as its top values and imparts those values to the more than 9,000 employees it has companywide as well as the thousands of contractors who work for the company.

DAVIS LOVE FOUNDATION: John King will show love this weekend by supporting ‘The Davis Love Foundation’ located on the deck lid and tailgate of the No. 7 Tundra. Davis Love III has 20 career PGA victories and won the 1997 PGA Championship. The foundation was founded in 2005 as a nonprofit organization with a main focus to help build and support those at risk for poor educational, economic, social and health related outcomes. For more information on the foundation and how you can show your support visit www.davisloveiii.com.

CHASSIS HISTORY: The No. 7 team will utilize chassis No. 002 this weekend at Rockingham Speedway. This chassis boasts impressive stats, having never finished outside the top five. Peters wheeled chassis 002 to a third-place finish at Nashville Superspeedway last July after starting fifth and leading 67 laps in the process. Additionally, Peters also started eighth and finished in the fifth spot at Bristol Motor Speedway last August.

PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: King entered the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway as the Truck Series points leader and left the 250-lap race retaining the points lead, after capturing a ninth-place finish. The rookie started the event in the 32nd position and was hopeful to finish all the laps at the Virginia paperclip. King found himself in the 15th position after passing the halfway mark on lap 135. With six laps to go, the Toyota Racing driver restarted in the 10th-place and was able to secure one additional position before crossing the finish line in the ninth position.

John King talks about Rockingham Speedway:

You attended the tire test last month; what did you learn about Rockingham?

“I learned a lot at last month’s tire test. It was interesting to see how important tire wear will be this weekend; you will definitely have to adjust your line as a run sets in and the tires’ grip falls off”

What will it be like competing at Rockingham Speedway?

“It’s like a really fast short track. We ran the late model race there in 2009 and that was probably one of the most fun races I’ve run. It’s extremely fast for a late model. As Timothy (Peters) said, you can race all over the race track. It’s going to be a pretty good show.”

RHR PR