For Jesse Little and his JJL Motorsports team, Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway is their Super Bowl event.
Running a limited NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS) schedule, the team takes great pride on every race they compete – but when it comes to Charlotte, it’s a prime opportunity to shine at their hometown track.
“I always look forward to Charlotte,” said Little. “It’s an important race for a lot of people. For a lot of my guys, this is their hometown race, so everyone’s morale is up because we feel like can go and put on a show on Friday night.”
Little, a native of Sherrills Ford, N.C. will make his NGOTS start at the 1.5-mile track on Friday night and looks to better his 16th place performance from last May.
“Charlotte’s an extremely fast track and the Trucks put on a great show there,” added Little. “It’s a relatively quick race, so we learned that track position is crucial for this race. We also need to make sure we keep our truck balanced as the track and weather conditions change throughout the day, especially with practice in the morning, qualifying in the afternoon and the race at night.
“We had a good truck last year and were in the hunt for a top-10 finish but had some late race obstacles that prevented us from getting there Despite those obstacles, we fought as a team, learned a lot and wound up with a decent finish.
“Hopefully we can take with what we learned last year and in our races this season and can get our first top-10 on Friday night.”
The team also hopes their performance on Friday night will spark the interest of a potential new marketing partner as the team will compete in the eighth race of the year without the benefit of a primary partner.
“We have a great team who can take a company’s dollar and stretch it a mile,” added Little. “We have a ton of races that we’d like to compete in this summer and surely would welcome the support.
“We know that strong performances will enable us the opportunity to bring new marketing partners to the table and I hope we can go to Charlotte and prove that.”
Without a primary partner, the team is still extremely thankful to have a slew of associate partners who will adorn the team’s truck for Little’s second Charlotte run.
Skuttle Tight, Parker FiberNet, Visit Kingsport, Grindstaff Rub, PFC Brakes and
Dkota Investments will be showcased in Little’s 27th career start.
Looking forward, JJL Motorsports continues to work hard on securing additional partners and sponsors for the 2019 season including the upcoming race at Texas Motor Speedway and several races this summer.
“It takes a lot of people and even a bigger effort to get our No. 97 Ford to the track each week,” explained JJL Motorsports team principal Jason Little. “We continue to fight hard and go to the race track every week and give 100 percent. We’d like to increase our schedule this season but need the sponsorship support to make it happen.
“We’re doing a lot of things to try and bring new partners to the table, but we know that performance is everything and if we can go to Charlotte and run competitive, we have another opportunity to tell our story.”
The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 (134 laps| 201 miles) is the eighth of 23 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series races on the 2019 schedule. Practice begins on Fri., May 17 from 9:05 a.m. – 9:55 p.m. A final practice session is set for 10:35 a.m. – 11:25 p.m. Qualifying is set for later in the day beginning at 4:35 p.m. The 32-truck field will take the green flag shortly after 8:30 p.m. with live coverage on FOX Sports 1 (FS1), the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite Radio, Channel 90). All times are local (Eastern).
JJL Motorsports PR
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