TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
BASS PRO SHOPS NRA NIGHT RACE
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
BRISTOL, TENNESSEE
AUGUST 17, 2019
BOWTIE BULLETS:
STRING OF STRONG STARTS FOR ELLIOTT:
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hooters Spirits Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, set the Bristol Motor Speedway qualifying record at 131.713 mph in winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole for the April 7 race. Elliott has three front-row starts in the past four races at the .533-mile racetrack and leads active drivers with a minimum of five starts at the track with an average start of 7.1 and average finish of 12.4 in seven races. William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1, has an average start of 6.0 in three races, including second and fifth the past two outings at the track. Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1, has three front row starts, including two poles, in the past five races at the track.
TAKING IT STAGE BY STAGE:
Team Chevy drivers have notched 14 stage victories. Elliott leads the Bowtie Brigade with four stage wins. He has also 17 top-five finishes and added two top-10 finishes in the stages at Michigan International Speedway for a total of 28. He is tied for fourth with 170 bonus points. Larson has three stage wins and 124 points.
MEMBER OF THE OVER-40 CLUB:
In 117 races at Bristol Motor Speedway, a Team Chevy driver has visited Victory Lane 45 times – more than any other manufacturer. It is one of six racetracks on the current MENCS schedule where Chevrolet has at least 40 wins. Chevrolet is primed to join the 40-plus club in poles at the track, too. With Elliott’s record-setting run in April, Chevrolet has 39 pole starts.
STANDING THE TEST OF TIME:
Charlie Glotzbach holds the Bristol Motor Speedway race record at 101.074 mph – set in the caution-free Volunteer 500 on July 11, 1971. Starting second in his No. 3 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Howard & Egerton Racing, Glotzbach and relief driver Friday Hassler led 411 of the 500 laps.
TUNE-IN:
NBCSN will telecast the 500-lap, 266.5-mile Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race live at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday, August 17. The NBC Sports Gold app will stream the race and live coverage can also be found on PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
BY THE NUMBERS:
* Victories by current Chevrolet drivers at Bristol Motor Speedway:
Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1, has six wins (August 2018, March 2006, March 2004, August 2003, March 2003, March 2002).
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1, has two wins (April 2017, March 2010).
* William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1, leads all drivers with 6,275 total laps run this season.
* Kyle Larson was runner-up in both races in 2018 at Bristol.
* Johnson maintains a streak of 34 consecutive races running at the finish.
* Busch leads active drivers with 1,576 green flag passes in 37 races at Bristol.
* Busch and Johnson are tied among active drivers for the most top-five finishes at Bristol with 12.
* Johnson is the leader among active drivers with 21 top-10 finishes in 35 starts at Bristol.
* Busch won his first MENCS race on March 24, 2002, at the racetrack.
* Elliott is seventh in the MENCS standings.
* With five victories, Chevrolet has surpassed its 2018 total.
* Chevrolet needs one top-five finish to reach 4,000 dating to 1949. Team Chevy has recorded 30 top fives this season.
* Chevrolet has won 39 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Championships.
Chevrolet will be pacing the field at Bristol Motor Speedway, with a T1 Silverado leading the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series in the UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics, a Camaro SS leading the NASCAR Xfinity Series in the Food City 300, and a T1 Silverado leading the NASCAR Monster Energy Series in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race.
FOR THE FANS:
· Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Midway at Bristol Motor Speedway
· Fans can check out an assortment of Chevrolet vehicles including: Blazer RS, Camaro ZL1, Silverado Trailboss, Traverse High Country, 2020 Equinox Premier, and a 2020 Silverado HD 2500.
· At the Chevrolet Display, fans can also view the Shock Camaro SS SEMA Concept.
· Other activities at the Team Chevy Racing Display include a variety of interactive games for adults and kids
TEAM CHEVY QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSIONS AT THE DISPLAY:
Thursday, August 15th
· 3:00 p.m. – Brett Moffitt & Sheldon Creed
· 3:15 p.m. – Ross Chastain & Angela Ruch
· 3:30 p.m. – Gus Dean, Tyler Dippel & Landon Huffman
Friday, August 16th
· 2:00 p.m. – John Hunter Nemechek
· 2:30 p.m. – Joe Graf Jr.
· 2:45 p.m. – Ray Black Jr.
· 3:00 pm. – Tyler Reddick
Saturday, August 17th
· 3:45 p.m. – Bubba Wallace
· 4:05 p.m. – Austin Dillon
· 4:15 p.m. – William Byron
· 4:40 p.m. – Alex Bowman
· 4:55 p.m. – Chase Elliott
·
Chevrolet Display Hours of Operation:
· Thursday, August 15th – 12:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
· Friday, August 16th – 10:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
· Saturday, August 17th – 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 HOOTERS SPIRITS CAMARO ZL1 – 7th IN STANDINGS
“I always look forward to going to Bristol. It’s a cool place. I was able to get a pole there at the beginning of the year, which was nice. We’ve had some hit or miss runs there. It’s been kind of odd. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a lot of consistency. I thought we had an okay car there in the spring. We’re just trying to build on that. I always look forward to that race. It’s a really fun weekend and always a great event to watch, for sure; and to be a part of it is pretty cool, too.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – 10th IN STANDINGS
Bowman on Bristol Motor Speedway:
“I think Bristol is a track where you can carry over what you learned in previous events. It is a strong racetrack for the No. 88 team. Bristol is one of those tracks where it can be a great place if you have good track position. We need a good points weekend and a good finish to get us ready for the playoffs.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – 12th IN STANDINGS
DOES THE NIGHT RACE AT BRISTOL BRING EXTRA EXCITEMENT AS A DRIVER AND HOW DO YOU HANDLE IT?
“I try not to focus on it too much. It’s a really exciting race as a fan but as a driver it’s a stressful race. You really have to manage yourself and your car for all 500 laps. You can’t put yourself in a position to take yourself out of contention early on because it’s so hard to recover. You try to treat it like any other race but it’s a cool one to win if you can.”
DO YOU THINK THE PJ1 HELPS MORE AT BRISTOL THAN OTHER TRACKS IT’S APPLIED AT?
“I feel like the PJ1 probably has the biggest impact at Bristol of all the races we have on the schedule in terms of the grip level of the bottom versus the top. It takes a long time for those two lanes to neutral out and equal in speed. The bottom is always faster for the initial laps, but it takes that progression for when you get about 10 laps into a run and then the top lane is the fastest way to go. It just depends on how much width they give the bottom when they treat it. If they give the bottom lane a wide width, then it tends to stay dominate longer and the progression is slower.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 – 13th IN STANDINGS
“I always look forward to racing at Bristol. It’s definitely one of my favorite tracks on the circuit by far. For whatever reason it’s been a place that’s always clicked with me since my first season in Cup. It sort of feels like a dirt track and kind of races how you would race a dirt car. It’s just really aggressive, and you can move around the track throughout the race, which suits my driving style. Our team has been putting together some really good finishes lately, and we’re finally showing off the speed in our Camaro that I think we’ve had all year. With the playoffs approaching, it’s definitely a good time to be getting stronger. So, hopefully we can continue to gain some momentum this weekend and contend for a win this weekend in Bristol.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 BUSH’S BEANS CAMARO ZL1 – 20th IN STANDINGS
“The Bristol Motor Speedway night race is definitely one of – if not – my favorite event of the year. I love Bristol, and short track racing in general. Bristol has been really good to me in the past, we have just had unfortunate circumstances that don’t give us the finish our BUSH’S Beans team deserves. Heading to BUSH’S Beans hometown, we’ve got the copper Camaro ZL1, and it looks great under the lights. I feel like we’ve been robbed at our last couple of Bristol races, and I’m ready to get after it this weekend and have a great race on Saturday night.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO MILITARY CAMARO ZL1 – 24th IN STANDINGS
WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK HEADING TO BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY?
“Bristol is my favorite track that we go to all season. Winning the stage in the spring was big for our GEICO team. It gave us a lot of confidence. Short tracks have been our strong suit at Germain Racing, so we look forward to going back to Bristol and hopefully capitalizing to finish better than 15th. I think we will show our strength at short tracks again and look to gain some more stage points.”
IS BRISTOL MORE PHYSICALLY OR MENTALLY DEMANDING ON DRIVERS?
“There are a lot of tracks that are more mentally draining than physically, but Bristol is probably the most physically demanding track we go to. By the end of the race, it starts to pull from your mental demand. I think if you are physically confident and in shape, you can stay mentally sharp the whole race.”
RYAN PREECE, NO. 47 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 – 27th IN STANDINGS
“I feel good about Bristol Motor Speedway. Early in the year, we had some damage that cost us the possibility of a good run. Chris (Buescher) has shown a lot of speed there, and similar to us had an outcome that didn’t represent their day. We’re on a really strong upward trend at JTG Daugherty Racing, and that makes me feel confident heading into Bristol and the remaining 13 races of the season. As a whole, we have been digging really hard this year and I think that’s finally starting to show on this Kroger team, now that we’ve had all of our bad luck out of the way.”
BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 – 28th IN STANDINGS
“I’m excited to get to the Bristol Motor Speedway. It’s a short track where we have been pretty decent since I started with Richard Petty Motorsports. Our short-track program has not been the best, but it seems like when we show-up, we kind of have a little bit better balance and a little bit better feel in our Chevrolets.
“Bristol Motor Speedway is one of my favorite tracks. I remember going there when I was 14-years old; and have been going there ever since. It’s been a good track for me. I’m looking forward to it.”