JR MOTORSPORTS TEAM PREVIEW: TRACK: Dover International Speedway RACE: Drive Sober 200 (200 laps / 200 miles) DATE: Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016 TRACK: Las Vegas Motor Speedway RACE: DC Solar 350 (146 laps / 219 miles) DATE: Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016
Broadcast Information – TV: 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN / Radio: MRN & Sirius Ch. 90 2:30 p.m. ET
Elliott Sadler With his win last weekend at Kentucky, Elliott Sadler is the first No. 1 OneMain Chevrolet driver to lock himself into the Round of 8 in the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) Chase for the Championship. Sadler currently leads the NXS point standings by eight over second-place Daniel Suarez. The Virginia native has 17 NXS starts at Dover International Speedway and has three top-five and 10 top-10 finishes. Sadler’s best finish of fourth came in 2012. In 27 races with JR Motorsports in 2016, Sadler has three wins, PR Manager: Josh Masten 11 top-five and a series-leading 24 top-10 finishes. Sadler is [email protected]; 704-677-6098 just one top-10 finish away from tying his career-high of 25 top 10s, which came in 2014. Justin Allgaier In 11 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Dover International Speedway, Justin Allgaier has two top fives and five top 10s. No. 7 TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet In the spring race this year, Allgaier won the first of two Dash 4 Cash heat races and placed fourth in the Main, his best NXS finish at Dover. This year he has five top-five and seven top-10 finishes in eight races on tracks measuring one mile in length or less. With two races left before the cutoff for the Round of 8, the 30- year-old driver currently sits sixth in the point standings, 18 PR Manager: Megan Johnson markers outside of the lead. [email protected]; 704-773-1992 Allgaier will be running the same chassis this weekend that he raced to second and fifth-place finishes this year at Bristol.
Alex Bowman Alex Bowman has five NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the No. 88 Jack Link’s Chevrolet Monster Mile. Racing for JRM earlier this season, Bowman led 33 laps at Dover – a career high- en route to a third-place finish, which tied his best effort in NXS competition. The Arizona native has six NXS starts this season, which include two top-five and six top-10 finishes. Crew chief Dave Elenz has three starts as a crew chief at Dover International Speedway, earning two top five finishes. The No. 88 team will utilize Chassis 954 this weekend, which was PR Manager: Kelsey Tucker the chassis Bowman ran at Dover in the spring. [email protected]; 704-677-6317
Broadcast Information – TV: 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1 / Radio: MRN & Sirius Ch. 90 8 p.m. ET
Cole Custer’s 1.5-mile track performance index this season Cole Custer shows an average starting spot of 11.8 and an average finish of No. 00 Haas Automation Chevrolet 12.3 in six starts. His best finish on a 1.5-mile oval, seventh at Kansas Speedway in May, was also his best start of fourth. He has completed all 902 laps of NCWTS competition on 1.5-mile tracks. Saturday’s event will mark Custer’s first start at Las Vegas in any type of car. It’s also the closest track on the NCWTS schedule to his hometown of Ladera Ranch, Calif. PR Manager: Ron Lemasters Custer’s sixth-place finish at New Hampshire marked his ninth [email protected]; 704-658-5776 top-10 finish in 17 races and also gave him sole possession of ninth place in NCWTS points heading to Las Vegas.
Driver Quotes
"With the win last weekend, we can afford to go out and race, “Dover for me was the race track that I had circled on the be aggressive, and maybe try some different things to get schedule in the Chase as far as being that one race that’s kind of ready for the second round of the Chase. We have a lot of the unknown. A lot of the tracks that we go to are mile-and-a- momentum on our side right now and we are looking forward halfs in our Chase, so we know what to expect. Even Phoenix we to getting to Dover this weekend and having some fun.” all kind of know what to expect. Dover’s a tricky race track to – Elliott Sadler begin with just by yourself. Adding 39 other competitors makes it really challenging. I love Dover; it’s one of those places I look forward to going to every year, but at the same time we’re going to have to be on our A game and make sure that we don’t make any mistakes and put ourselves in a good position.” – Justin Allgaier
“We had a great run going earlier this year in Dover. I have “We had a good Truck at New Hampshire, but we just couldn’t been waiting for this race since the end of the spring race. I feel pass up there. Las Vegas gives us a lot more room to race, and like we have some unfinished business there and I am confident I’ve been pretty happy with the speed we’ve shown in our Haas that this 88 team will bring a fast Jack Link’s Chevrolet this Automation Chevrolet Silverado at the bigger tracks. We were weekend.” fast at Michigan and at Chicagoland, which is also a 1.5-mile – Alex Bowman oval, so that gives me a lot of confidence that we’ll be fast at Las Vegas. I really want to win one of these last six races, and I’d love to do it in Las Vegas.” – Cole Custer
Sadler 2016 Stats Allgaier 2016 Stats Bowman 2016 Stats Custer 2016 Stats (NXS) (NXS) (NXS) (NCWTS)
Starts 27 Starts 27 Starts 6 Starts 17 Wins 3 Wins 0 Wins 0 Wins 0 Top 5s 11 Top 5s 11 Top 5s 2 Top 5s 4 Top 10s 24 Top 10s 22 Top 10s 6 Top 10s 9 Laps Led 119 Laps Led 22 Laps Led 51 Laps Led 60 Avg. Finish 7.0 Avg. Finish 9.5 Avg. Finish 7.0 Avg. Finish 11.5 Points 1st (+8) Points 6th (-18) Points N/A Points 9th (-1683)
JRM Team Updates
JRM at Dover: In 40 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Dover International Speedway, JR Motorsports has two wins, 11 tops fives and 22 top 10s. Regan Smith won the fall NXS race at the Monster Mile last year and Brad Keselowski claimed the victory in the 2009 spring race there.
See Justin: JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier will participate in the NASCAR Xfinity Series autograph session at Dover International Speedway from 10-10:45 a.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 1.
On the Horizon for the No. 88: By season’s end, the No. 88 JR Motorsports entry, known as the “All-Star” car, will have been piloted by nine different drivers, including team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., Josh Berry, Alex Bowman, Clint Bowyer, Cole Custer, Chase Elliott, Kenny Habul, Kevin Harvick and Regan Smith. In the six remaining races of 2016, Bowman will drive the No. 88 Chevrolet this weekend in Dover International Speedway and then will be back for the final two races at Phoenix International Raceway (Nov. 12) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 19), Harvick will see action in races at Charlotte Motor Speedway (Oct. 7) and Texas Motor Speedway (Nov. 5), and Regan Smith will make his second and final JRM start of the season in the No. 88 at Kansas Speedway (Oct. 15).