Wednesday, June 26, 2013

2013 Kentucky Quaker State 400 Driver Chassis Selections

Kevin Harvick is using winning Charlotte chassis this week
#2-Brad Keselowski: Primary Chassis for Kentucky is PRS-852 which last raced at Richmond and finished 33rd. The backup chassis is PRS-847 has been a backup at several races but has not raced.

#5-Kasey Kahne: Crew chief Kenny Francis has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-739 for the Kentucky race. Most recently, Kahne drove this chassis at Darlington in May, when he ran inside the top five for the majority of the race before being collected in an incident and finishing 17th. Kahne has one top-five finish in two Cup starts at Kentucky. The 33-year-old driver finished second in last year's event at the 1.5-mile tri-oval. His average start there is 11.5, and his average finish is 7.5, which ranks him seventh among active Sprint Cup Series drivers at Kentucky.

#9-Marcos Ambrose: The #9 Mac Tools team has prepared the same chassis they raced at Las Vegas and Kansas earlier this year. The best finish for the car is 20th. Ambrose comes into Kentucky with two previous NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at the track. He has an average start of 11.5 and an average finish of 16.5 in his races with Richard Petty Motorsports. His best finish is 13th at the track and has finished on the lead lap in both events. He also won his first NASCAR pole at the track, in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, in 2006.

#14-Tony Stewart Chassis No. 14-736 debuted in 2012 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup opener at Chicago, where Stewart qualified 29th and rallied to lead three laps before finishing sixth. Chassis No. 14-736 made its second career start in October at Charlotte, and it had to rally again. After starting 32nd, a lap-16 run-in with Brad Keselowski necessitated numerous pit stops that dropped Stewart all the way to 36th in the 43-car field. But Stewart used Chassis No. 14-736 to claw his way back to a respectable 13th-place finish. The car made its third career start last November at Texas where it rallied yet again, overcoming its 21st-place starting spot to finish fifth. With a 2013 Chevrolet SS body honed in the wind tunnel, Chassis No. 14-736 visited Kansas in April for its fourth career start. It was a quiet outing, with Stewart qualifying 18th and finishing 21st.

#15-Clint Bowyer: Primary Chassis No. 738 raced at Las Vegas and Darlington. Backup chassis No. 724 has not raced.

#16-Greg Biffle: and the Matt Puccia led #16 3M / National Firefighters Foundation Ford Fusion team will bring primary chassis RK-844 which last ran at Pocono in June and finished 2nd. The backup chassis is RK-822, which last ran at Martinsville and finished 9th. Biffle has finished 21st in both Sprint Cup races at Kentucky. In six career Nationwide starts at Kentucky Biffle has three top-five and five top-10 finishes. 3M Scotchlite Reflective Material proudly supports the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation with donations of over $100,000 since 2007.

#17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: and the #17 Fifth Third Bank Racing team will be using primary chassis RK-791, which last raced at Sprint Showdown/All-Star race finished 2nd in Showdown. The backup Chassis RK-811 was a chassis that the #99 ran numerous times in 2012. Fifth Third Bank will be on the #17 Ford the next two races, Kentucky and Daytona.

#22-Joey Logano: Primary Chassis for Kentucky is PRS-858 which is a new chassis. The backup chassis is PRS-844 has been a backup at several races but has not raced.

#27-Paul Menard will pilot chassis No. 414 at Kentucky Speedway this weekend. This #27 Menards/Sylvania Chevrolet SS previously ran at Darlington Raceway in May and was tested earlier this month at Kentucky Speedway. Menard has two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at the 1.5-mile oval. His best start of 10th came in 2011 and best finish of 12th came in 2012. The Wisconsin native has completed 533 of 534 laps attempted (99 percent) at the Sparta, Ky., track. 

#29-Kevin Harvick: and the #29 Budweiser team will utilize chassis No. 425 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday night. This is the same Chevrolet that Harvick drove to Victory Lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. Harvick has two starts to his credit at the 1.5-mile D-shaped oval dating back to 2011. The RCR veteran earned his best start of fourth and finish of 11th in 2011 and completed 100 percent (534 of 534) of the laps contested.

#31-Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 372 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable this weekend at Kentucky Speedway. This #31 Caterpiller Chevy was utilized earlier this season at Bristol in March, Charlotte in May and Michigan in June. Burton has two starts at the Sparta, Ky.-based facility with his best start of 22nd and best finish of 19th both coming in the 2011 event. The South Boston, Va., native has also completed 533 of 534 laps attempted (99 percent) at the 1.5-mile oval. Whayne Supply Company Inc. will be featured on the deck lid of the #31 Caterpillar Chevrolet this weekend at Kentucky Speedway.

#39-Ryan Newman will pilot Chassis No. 39-733 debuted at Indianapolis in July 2012, when Newman recorded a seventh-place finish. The crew turned the car around in just a couple of days and took it to Pocono, where it finished sixth. Two weeks later, the chassis was back on track at Michigan where it finished eighth. The chassis earned its first top-five finish at Chicago. The chassis next raced three weeks later at Dover. The chassis made its last start of the 2012 season at Kansas in October, when Newman was involved in an incident that forced him to retire from the event prematurely. Chassis No. 39-733 was outfitted with a new front clip and a Chevrolet SS body, and saw its first laps of the 2013 season at Kansas in April, when Newman finished 14th. Newman then raced this Chevrolet SS to a 10th-place finish at Darlington in May. Most recently, Newman raced Chassis 39-733 to a fifth-place finish at Pocono earlier this month.

#43-Aric Almirola: The #43 Eckrich / Operation Homefrond team will race the same chassis they raced at Dover earlier this year. Almirola has made six starts at Kentucky Speedway in all three national series. His lone Sprint Cup start came last season when he started 13th and finished 26th after battling a tight condition. In his two Nationwide starts, Almirola posted his best finish (sixth) in 2007 and has an average finish of 13th. He finished in the top-five in two of his three truck series starts, including a best finish of third (2010), and has an average finish of 10th.

#48-Jimmie Johnson: will drive chassis No. 799 at Kentucky, this chassis last ran at Charlotte in May finishing 22nd. Chassis No. 720 serves as the backup and won two races in 2012.

#55-Brian Vickers: is running Chassis 722 which Mark Martin drove this car in the All-Star race. Back-up car 720 has not raced in 2013.

#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr.:crew chief Steve Letarte and the #88 team will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-726 for this weekend's Cup event at Kentucky. Earnhardt last ran this chassis in the 600-mile race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Earnhardt will make his third career Sprint Cup start this Saturday at Kentucky Speedway, a 1.5-mile tri-oval added to the schedule in 2011. Earnhardt averaged a 6.599 running position (ranked fifth among his peers) during the 2012 content and finished fourth to record his first top-10 result at the track.

#99-Carl Edwards the #99 UPS team will be bringing chassis RK 831 which is a new chassis for the 2013 season. Backup chassis is RK 826 last ran in Texas. Edwards will make his third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Kentucky Speedway Saturday, but he has seven Nationwide and three Camping World Truck starts there. In his previous 12 starts, Edwards has two wins, four top-five and five top-10 finishes.

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