Chris Buescher | Atlanta II Advance
ADVANCE NOTES
Weekend Format
- The weekend format and schedule in Atlanta features a lone qualifying session on Saturday, similar to the schedules employed at Talladega and Daytona.
- Teams will qualify in single-car format Saturday at 11:35 a.m. ET, with the top-five in each round advancing to the final round to determine the pole sitter.
Buescher at Atlanta Motor Speedway
- Buescher makes his ninth start at Atlanta this weekend where he has three top-10s. He most recently ran seventh there this spring, matching his best finish prior in the fall of 2021. He also ran ninth in 2019.
- Overall he has a 17.3 average finishing position and has completed all but one lap dating back four events.
- Buescher has a career-best qualifying effort of 13th in 2020, and a 21.9 average starting position overall.
- He also finished fourth in the Xfinity Series there in 2015, one of his three NXS starts for RFK.
Travis Peterson at Atlanta Motor Speedway
- Peterson was on the box as lead engineer for Buescher’s P7 finish at Atlanta this spring.
- Peterson has been paired with Scott Graves as lead engineer for multiple seasons, working with drivers Ryan Newman, Ross Chastain, and Matt Kenseth. He was crew chief for Kenseth at the 2018 season finale in Homestead, as the No. 6 team finished sixth to close that campaign.
QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at Atlanta:
“The new asphalt is right on a razor’s edge, and the spring race was so tense the whole race. We’ve learned some stuff that will make it more comfortable going back, but it’ll still be tough with both the surface and the temperatures. As we say all the time, momentum is huge in our sport, and we’ve been up and down with it, so it’s time to turn it up and keep the solid finishes coming as we progress through the summer.”
Last Time Out
Buescher put together another impressive on a road course, finishing sixth Sunday at Road America for his fifth top-10 overall and second-straight on a road course.
On the Car
Fastenal, in its 12th season with RFK in 2022, makes its 11th appearance with the No. 17 this weekend. In its early days with RFK, Fastenal originally was a partner with the No. 99 team before moving over to the No. 17 team since. They were also the primary partner on the No. 60 Xfinity Series entry that captured the owner’s championship in 2011.
Fastenal will feature top suppliers MSA, ND Industries, Greenfield Industries, 3M and Nord-Lock, Inc. on Buescher’s Mustang as he competes this weekend. For more information on these suppliers, visit Fastenal.com, and stay up-do-date on social @FastenalCompany.
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Brad Keselowski | Atlanta II Advance
ADVANCE NOTES
Weekend Format
- The weekend format and schedule in Atlanta features a lone qualifying session on Saturday, similar to the schedules employed at Talladega and Daytona.
- Teams will qualify in single-car format Saturday at 11:35 a.m. ET, with the top-five in each round advancing to the final round to determine the pole sitter.
Keselowski at Atlanta Motor Speedway
- Keselowski makes his 16th start at AMS this weekend, a track where he has two wins at with an average finish of 15th. He ran 12th in the spring race.
- Keselowski won at the 1-mile track first in 2017 after starting fifth, and again in 2019. Overall he’s led laps in eight different Atlanta races, and finished inside the top-10 on nine occasions.
- He finished top-10 in six-straight races from 2015-2020, including the pair of events he won. Outside the two victories, he has one runner-up result (2018), a third-place run (2012) and three ninth-place finishes.
- Keselowski has a 14.8 average starting position at Atlanta with a career-best effort of P2 in 2014. Overall he’s started inside the top-10 five different times.
- He also made eight Xfinity Series starts with six top-10s, including two P2 finishes. He also made four Truck starts.
Matt McCall at Atlanta Motor Speedway
- McCall is one of the most recent Cup winners at Atlanta, leading Kurt Busch and the No. 1 team to victory in 2021. The team led 144 laps en route to McCall’s third Cup win overall.
- Overall he has four top-10s on the Atlanta surface with a P3 finish in 2019, and a sixth-place run a year later.
- McCall has an impressive 9.8 average qualifying effort with five starts inside the top-10, including a career-best second in 2016 with Jamie McMurray.
QUOTE WORTHY
Keselowski on racing at Atlanta:
“This race was obviously an experience back in the spring, and I think in some ways was a lot of folks expected, but in some way surprised us, as well. It’s definitely fast and racy, but it’s challenging with the new surface and figuring out how to navigate it as a Superspeedway. Excited to have our friends at Solomon Plumbing back on the car, and can’t wait to put on a great show for those folks and everyone come Sunday.”
Last Time Out
Keselowski unfortunately had mid-race issues at Road America and lost multiple laps to the leaders, ultimately finishing 33rd in the Kohler Generators Ford.
On the Car
Solomon Plumbing returns to the No. 6 machine for its third primary race. They originally joined the RFK fold as the primary for the Bristol Dirt race and Gateway.
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Kyle Busch More than Meets the Eye
There are six 1.5-mile ovals on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule in 2022. While Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of those six 1.5-mile ovals – 1.54-miles to be exact – the racing there is now much different than at its five counterparts.
During the last offseason, Atlanta underwent a facelift with new pavement to replace the worn-out surface and increased banking in the turns from 24 to 28 degrees, with the track width varying from 55 feet to 40 feet. The frontstretch width is now 52 feet while the backstretch and turns at each end of the track are set at 42 and 40 feet wide, respectively.
The first race on the newly configured layout in March showed fans a completely different type of racing than they were used to seeing at Atlanta, and unlike any of the other 1.5-mile ovals on the schedule. While Atlanta is a mile or more shorter in length than Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway’s 2.5-mile oval and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway’s 2.66-mile oval, the changes made the racing Atlanta look more like it does at those two superspeedways.
Never one to back down from a challenge, Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’S Crunchy Cookie Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), will head back to the new-look facility south of Atlanta to take on the still new track surface and configuration, and the kind of racing it brings. While it’s designed to facilitate more pack-style racing, there are still countless other unknowns thanks to the layout and the fact it’s just the second time the NextGen car has raced on the new configuration.
Long before the track underwent major changes, Atlanta was where the winning for Busch began with JGR in 2008. That was his first year with JGR, and he headed to Atlanta for the fourth Cup Series race of the season aiming to bring home the maiden victory for the team’s two new partners – Mars Wrigley with its SNICKERS brand, and Toyota. After leading a race-high 173 laps, Busch broke through for the first time in NASCAR’s top series for Toyota, which was in its second year of Cup Series competition and its first with JGR. Busch added an Atlanta Cup Series win in 2013 to go with eight top-five finishes and 11 top-10s over his career there.
So, as the Cup Series heads back to new-look Atlanta this weekend, Busch and the M&M’S Crunchy Cookie team know that while the track is listed as a 1.5-mile oval, there’s much more to it than meets the eye. He hopes to be able to figure out how to get up front and stay there in order to bring home his third Cup Series victory at Atlanta and first on the new configuration.
KYLE BUSCH, Driver of the No. 18 M&M'S Crunchy Cookie Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing: |
Was Atlanta a lot like you expected before the first race after the new pavement and changes there?
“It was just as crazy as I expected. It literally got a facelift with a whole new track surface and layout and everything. Old Atlanta, you had the old asphalt and really had fast lap times to fire off, and then you had a lot of (tire) fall-off where lap times go down throughout the run. That led to having some guys come up through the field and others drop through the field, whether or not they were fast early in the run or slow late in the run, or vice versa. Back in the spring, it was more like what we expected it to be, like a Daytona or Talladega speedway race. We saw a lot of pack racing with some guys two-wide and maybe three-wide, and saw how wide the track got in the time we had on it. We’ll take what we can from the spring race there, what we did well and especially what not to do. Hoping we can figure out how to run up front and contend for the win with our M&M’S Crunchy Cookie Camry TRD.”
What are your memories of racing at Atlanta?
You gave Toyota its first Cup Series win by scoring a victory at Atlanta in March 2008. What do you remember about that?
“Running in Atlanta and being able to put Toyota in victory lane for the first time, that was special for me and for Joe Gibbs Racing and everybody. Certainly, that was neat. We’ve been fortunate to be able to put Toyota and Mars in victory lane a lot more times over the years. With it being the last year for Mars in NASCAR, it’s fun to look back at that win and see all that we’ve accomplished since then. It was really neat to get SNICKERS and Toyota to victory lane, but also having been able to sustain that with a lot more wins since then with M&M’S, Skittles, Doublemint and all the Mars Wrigley brands being able to go out there and win with them over the years.”
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Chandler Smith - No. 18 Safelite Tundra TRD Pro Camping World Trucks Mid-Ohio Preview
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No. 10 Ford Pro Racing: Atlanta II Advance
Notes of Interest |
● After 18 races this season, Almirola is the only driver in the NASCAR Cup Series without a DNF (Did Not Finish). He has completed all but five laps of the 4,712 run this year – a 99.9 percent completion rate.
● Almirola’s track record at superspeedways provides a promising outlook for success at Atlanta this weekend, where drivers and teams once again are expecting pack-style racing akin to events at Daytona and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Almirola has two wins, seven top-fives, 13 top-10s and 84 laps led at Daytona and Talladega. Last June, he scored his eighth-consecutive top-10 at Talladega to tie the track record for most consecutive top-10s. The mark was originally set by Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., between April 2001 and October 2004. Almirola finished fifth in this year’s season-opening Daytona 500 and 13th at Talladega.
● In Almirola’s last start at Atlanta in March, the series’ first outing after the 62-year-old facility underwent a wholesale offseason redesign and repave, he led six laps in the final stage with a promising opportunity to win until the No. 1 car of Ross Chastain made contact to his bumper, ultimately turning him into the infield grass and causing damage to the No. 10 Smithfield Ford. Almirola stayed on the lead lap to finish 22nd.
● Driver Points: Almirola arrives at Atlanta 12th in the driver standings with 452 points, 172 out of first.
● Playoff Points: The No. 10 Ford driver sits 18th in the playoff point standings, 47 points behind the playoff cutoff line. Almirola has more driver points than six of the locked-in playoff drivers.
● FordPro.com: Ford Pro is a one-stop shop for commercial and government fleets designed to accelerate productivity and improve uptime, offering a portfolio of vehicles, software, charging, service and financing for any size business or industry. Ford Pro makes going electric easy by providing intelligent software tools and an end-to-end suite of charging solutions that work on Ford or non-Ford vehicles, in addition to offering electrified versions of the vehicles its customers already love – E-Transit and F-150 Lightning Pro.
● Almirola’s career: In 406 NASCAR Cup Series starts, Almirola has earned three wins, 28 top-five finishes, 89 top-10s, three poles, and has led 899 laps.
● One More Time: On Jan. 10, Almirola released a video on his YouTube channel announcing his retirement from fulltime NASCAR Cup Series racing after the 2022 season to spend more time with his family. His opening remarks were attributed to his grandfather’s mentorship. This year marks Almirola’s 11th fulltime Cup Series season. The official press release can be viewed here.
● Beyond the 10 YouTube Series: In 2022, Almirola is once again sharing his life beyond the No. 10 Smithfield Ford with season three of his award-winning YouTube series. Fans and media can subscribe on YouTube to see Almirola’s personality on and off the track. Episodes have already featured life as a dad, a husband and an athlete, and it gives fans a unique perspective on what goes on in the life of a professional NASCAR driver. Fans can also follow Almirola’s social media channels: @Aric_Almirola on Twitter and Instagram, and @AricAlmirola on Facebook.
● Almirola was the only NASCAR Cup Series driver to finish in the top-10 in this year’s opening three races. He finished fifth in the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, sixth at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, and sixth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Almirola’s top-10 streak ended with a 12th-place finish at Phoenix Raceway despite running inside the top-10 throughout the race. |
Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Ford Pro Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing: |
This is the first track you’re revisiting in the NextGen car. Is the preparation different?
“Yeah, this is the first time all year we have notes to take back to the racetrack, so you’re not just heading there blind hoping your setup was right. We had a fast car earlier this year at Atlanta and ran up front a lot, so we feel really good about unloading with speed this weekend. It’s going to be hot and humid this time, though, so there will definitely be some differences from March. It will be interesting to see how the field stacks up now that we’re heading to the same venues with notes in this car.”
The new Atlanta surface was designed to race more like a superspeedway. What were your thoughts on that outcome?
"It definitely raced like a superspeedway, more than I anticipated. So we get to go back knowing exactly how the track races. We ran up front at the end and had a shot at it, but superspeedway racing happened and we got turned and hurt our car. I’m excited to have another shot at it this weekend.”
You are currently outside of the playoff point standings. Do you think about that or just race?
“I really don’t pay much attention to it. I leave that up to Drew Blickensderfer (crew chief) and the guys to focus on and make the best call based on that. My focus is to get as much as I possibly can out of a given race weekend, then reset for the next weekend. Obviously, we’re hoping to race for a win every single weekend, so that’s always the first priority. Then see where the circumstances take us and adapt. There are still eight races left and anything can happen.”
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DGR NCWTS Advance: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
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2022 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Atlanta Advance
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Zane Smith Heads to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as Points Leader
After enjoying an off-week from NASCAR Camping World Truck Series action, Zane Smith returns as the regular season points leader heading into the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Boot Barn, the nation’s largest western and work wear retailer, will adorn the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports (FRM) Ford F-150 for the second time this 2022 season. Coming off a third-place finish in Knoxville, they will join the program again at the end of July at the Indianapolis Raceway Park.
“We’ve been fortunate to have a lot of great partners come on board with us this year at FRM,” Smith stated. “Boot Barn has really embraced the NASCAR culture, because it also represents their culture. We gave them a third place on the dirt, hopefully we can deliver a win this weekend on the road course.”
With only two races left before deciding a regular season champion, Smith is looking for consistency to hold on to the points lead.
"This regular season championship battle is far from over,” said Smith. "We have a 21-point lead on second place, but we’ve also seen how drastically the points can swing if you have a bad day. Winning this weekend at Mid-Ohio would be great, but realistically we need to focus on a great finish and holding the points lead so we have a chance at the 15 playoff points that come with a regular season championship.”
Smith and the No. 38 Boot Barn team race the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
FRM PR
Ford Performance NASCAR: Blaney Battling for Regular Season Championship at Cup Series Returns to Atlanta
FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR: MID-OHIO/ATLANTA 2 NOTES
Atlanta Motor Speedway will host the NASCAR XFINITY and NASCAR Cup Series this weekend for the second time in 2022 while the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races at Mid-Ohio for the first time. Here’s a look at where Ford drivers stand in all three series.
This Week’s Schedule:
Saturday, July 9 – NASCAR Camping World Truck Series @ Mid-Ohio, 1:30 p.m. (FS1)
Saturday, July 9 – NASCAR XFINITY Series @ Atlanta, 5 p.m. (USA)
Sunday, July 10 – NASCAR Cup Series @ Atlanta, 3 p.m. (USA)
FORD IN THE NASCAR CUP SERIES AT AMS
- Ford has 35 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins at AMS.
- Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney have Ford wins at the track.
- Georgia native Bill Elliott is Ford’s all-time leader at AMS with five wins.
FORD IN THE NASCAR XFINITY SERIES AT AMS
- Ford has 10 NASCAR XFINITY Series wins at AMS, all but two by RFK Racing.
- Kevin Harvick leads all drivers with five series wins.
- Mark Martin has the most Ford wins with three while Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards have two each.
FORD IN THE CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES AT MID-OHIO
- This weekend marks the inaugural event for the series at Mid-Ohio.
BLANEY EYEING REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP
Ryan Blaney may still be looking for his first points win of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, but he’s right in the thick of the regular season championship battle with only eight races remaining. This year’s All-Star Race winner currently sits second in the standings, 33 points behind leader Chase Elliott going into Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Blaney, who had a streak of three straight top-10 finishes end after an 11th-place run at Road America, is tied for the most stage wins among all drivers with five.
TOP 10 RUNS BECOMING THE NORM
Four Ford drivers have been on a variety of top 10 runs over the past few months, led by Michael McDowell, whose eighth-place finish at Road America marked his sixth in the last 10 races. Kevin Harvick, who is currently outside of the playoff field, has been knocking out top 10 finishes at a rate of seven in the last nine while Chris Buescher has posted a second at Sonoma and sixth at Road America in his last three starts. Currently, Austin Cindric has a streak of three straight top 10s after running fifth at Sonoma and seventh the past two weeks at Nashville and Road America.
HERBST CLIMBING IN THE NXS STANDINGS
Riley Herbst has been steadily moving up in the NASCAR XFINITY Series standings, entering this weekend’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in ninth place. Herbst had been as low as 12th following the road course race at Circuit of the Americas, but in the 10 races since then he has registered eight top 10 finishes, including three in the top five. As a result, he has a 136-point cushion above the cut line with 10 races remaining in the regular season before the 12-driver playoff field is set.
SMITH TAKES TRUCK SERIES POINTS LEAD
Zane Smith’s second-place finish two weeks ago at Nashville Superspeedway enabled him to take the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points lead with only two races remaining in the regular season. As the Front Row Motorsports driver heads to Mid-Ohio for Saturday’s inaugural race, Smith holds a 21-point lead over second-place John Hunter Nemechek and leads all drivers in top 10s (12), top 5s (8), wins (3) and laps led (339).
NASCAR CUP SERIES ATLANTA HIGHLIGHTS
KESELOWSKI GETS FIRST CUP WIN FOR MUSTANG
Brad Keselowski gave Mustang its first NASCAR Cup Series victory as he held off Martin Truex Jr. at the finish to win the Folds of Honor 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2019. Keselowski, who was battling an illness all weekend and had Austin Cindric standing by in case he needed relief, led the final 33 laps to post his 28th career victory. In all, Ford led 177 of the 325 laps and won for the third straight year at the 1.5-mile track.
HARVICK SWEEPS 2018 WEEKEND
Kevin Harvick led eight times for a race-high 181 laps in winning the Fold’s of Honor 500 in 2018 and completing a sweep of the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR XFINITY races. After winning all three stages the day before in his Ford Mustang, Harvick took the first stage in the Cup race and then led the final 25 laps to post his 38th career victory and third with Ford. Brad Keselowski finished second and Clint Bowyer third to give Ford a 1-2-3 sweep. Ford dominated from start to finish as four drivers combined to lead 272-of-325 laps. Harvick became the first Ford driver to sweep a Cup/XFINITY weekend since Joey Logano did it in 2015 at Watkins Glen International.
SNOW DAYS
Morgan Shepherd captured Ford’s 400th series victory in 1993 when snow delayed the Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 for nearly a week. The original race date was Sunday, March 14, 1992, but a blizzard that would eventually be called the ‘Storm of the Century’ pounded the Atlanta area with 6-8 inches of snow. An estimated 82,000 fans came back the following Saturday, where they were greeted by souvenir rigs that sports t-shirts proclaiming ‘I Survived the Atlanta Blizzard 500.’ When the race started, Mark Martin had the dominant car as he led 140 of the first 225 laps, but engine problems put him out of the running and Shepherd took advantage as he stretched his fuel mileage to the finish, leading the final 12 laps and winning by a whopping 23.50 seconds. The win for Shepherd, who was 51 at the time, was his fourth and final victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.
SWEEP DREAMS
Marvin Panch was the first driver to sweep both AMS races in a single season when he did it in 1965 with the Wood Brothers. Georgia native Bill Elliott posted a pair of season sweeps (1985 and 1992) and won five times overall while Carl Edwards registered the first win of his career at the speedway in 2005 and matched it later that fall.
LORENZEN LAPS THE FIELD
Ford went to victory lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the first time in 1961 when NASCAR Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen captured the Festival 250 on July 9 while driving for Holman-Moody. He did it in dominating fashion as well by lapping the field. Lorenzen, who led 52 laps on the day, beat runner-up Bob Welborn by one lap in his 1961 Ford. Richard Petty finished third that afternoon, but was three laps down. That victory served as a springboard for Lorenzen’s future success at AMS, which included becoming the first driver to win the Atlanta 500 three straight years (1962-63-64).
FORD’S ATLANTA NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS
1961 – Fred Lorenzen
1962 – Fred Lorenzen
1963 – Fred Lorenzen
1964 – Fred Lorenzen and Ned Jarrett
1965 – Marvin Panch (sweep)
1967 – Cale Yarborough and Dick Hutcherson
1968 – LeeRoy Yarbrough
1969 – LeeRoy Yarbrough
1975 – Buddy Baker
1978 – Bobby Allison
1981 – Neil Bonnett
1985 – Bill Elliott (sweep)
1987 – Ricky Rudd and Bill Elliott
1990 – Morgan Shepherd
1991 – Mark Martin
1992 – Bill Elliott (sweep)
1993 – Morgan Shepherd
1994 – Ernie Irvan and Mark Martin
1997 – Dale Jarrett
2002 – Kurt Busch
2005 – Carl Edwards (sweep)
2008 – Carl Edwards
2017 – Brad Keselowski
2018 – Kevin Harvick
2019 – Brad Keselowski
2020 – Kevin Harvick
2021 – Ryan Blaney (1)
FORD’S ATLANTA NASCAR XFINITY WINNERS
1992 – Jeff Gordon
1997 – Mark Martin
1998 – Mark Martin
2000 – Mark Martin
2004 – Matt Kenseth
2005 – Carl Edwards
2008 – Matt Kenseth
2011 – Carl Edwards
2012 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2018 – Kevin Harvick
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