Thursday, May 14, 2015

Driver Chassis Selections for 2015 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race

No one is using their top chassis this week for the non-points race

#3-Austin Dillon will pilot Chassis No. 481 in the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In March, Dillon raced this Dow Chevrolet to a 16th-place finish at Auto Club Speedway and a 39th-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This is the same Chevrolet SS that Dillon raced to a 25th-place finish at Homestead in November of 2014. That year, he also raced it to a 13th-place finish at Charlotte in October, a 16th-place finish at Chicago in September, a 22nd-place finish at Michigan in August and a 10th-place finish at Indianapolis in July.

#4-Kevin Harvick: will pilot the #4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet SS built on Chassis No. 4-846 in Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte. Built in 2014, Chassis No. 4-846 made its debut at Bristol in March, when it started 27th and led 28 laps before being collected in a late-race accident and finishing 39th. It made its second appearance at Dover in June, when it started eighth, led 24 laps and finished 17th. At Pocono in August, No. 4-846 started sixth, led five laps and finished second. In its final appearance of 2014, Harvick started fourth, led 17 laps and finished fifth in September at Richmond. Chassis No. 4-846 made its 2015 debut at Auto Club Speedway, where Harvick started second, led 34 laps and finished second to Brad Keselowski by 0.710 of a second in a green-white-checkered finish.

#5-Kasey Kahne: Crew chief Keith Rodden has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-923 for Saturday night's race at Charlotte. Kahne raced with the chassis at the Fontana, California, event in March.

#14-Tony Stewart: Chassis No. 14-898 debuted in August 2014 at Michigan with Jeff Burton at the wheel. Burton qualified 27th and felt the car was capable of advancing to the front, but a cracked tailpipe caught the heat shields underneath the car on fire around lap 65. It took 24 laps in the garage to make repairs, and Burton finished a disappointing 37th. Chassis No. 14-898 returned to action Labor Day weekend at Atlanta with Stewart. After starting 12th and passing five cars on the first lap, Stewart continued to show strength, climbing all the way to fourth place by lap 15. Changing track conditions saw Stewart drop to 12th by lap 100, but in working the low line around the track's corners, Stewart made the racecar work for him. Unfortunately, a flat right-front tire on lap 171 sent Stewart into the turn-two wall. The right side of Chassis No. 14-898 scraped along the SAFER Barrier and then moments later, the tire shredded, ripping apart sheet metal and suspension components. Too damaged to repair, the car suffered a DNF (Did Not Finish). The car was busy afterward, testing at Charlotte Sept. 29-30 and at Homestead Oct. 28-29 before competing in the season finale at Homestead Nov. 16 where an overheating engine left Chassis No. 14-898 with a 43rd place finish. With new Chevrolet SS sheet metal honed in the wind tunnel this offseason, the car returned to Atlanta Feb. 26-March 1 for its fourth career start and second at Atlanta. It was a laborious 500-mile race, with the car starting 39th and finishing 30th. The All-Star Race at Charlotte will be its second start of 2015.

#15-Clint Bowyer: Chassis No. 776 serves as the primary chassis for Bowyer for the Sprint All-Star race. This chassis has not seen race action this season. Chassis No. 816 has served as back-up at several races this season.

#24-Jeff Gordon: Crew chief Alan Gustafson has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 24-907 for Saturday night's race. The chassis has been raced four times previously with Gordon finishing 18th at Las Vegas in its only start of 2015. Last year, the 43-year-old driver finished 29th at Texas in November and posted runner-up finishes at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October and Chicagoland Speedway in September racing the chassis.

#27-Paul Menard will utilize chassis No. 487 this weekend in the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This Serta/Menards Chevrolet SS was utilized earlier this year at Auto Club Speedway (Start: 11/ Finish: 4) and Atlanta Motor Speedway (Start: 13/ Finish: 13).

#31-Ryan Newman will drive chassis No. 461 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This will be the first time this season the #31 Cat/Quicken Loans Chevy team will utilize the car in competition. Back on April 13, this car participated in a three-day test at Kentucky Speedway. 

#41-Kurt Busch will pilot Chassis No. 794 in the Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte. Formerly a #10 chassis for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) teammate Danica Patrick, Chassis No. 794 debuted in May 2013 at Charlotte, where Patrick started 24th and finished 29th after being involved in a multicar accident on lap 320 of 400. Its next event was in June 2013 at Kentucky, where she started 29th and finished 23rd. Chassis No. 794 next saw action in August 2013 at Atlanta, where Patrick started and finished 21st. It was tested twice in 2014 - at Michigan and at Homestead. Chassis No. 794 will see its first laps of 2015 this weekend at Charlotte.

#48-Jimmie Johnson: For this weekend's event, crew chief Chad Knaus has selected chassis No. 48-922, which last raced at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. The backup car is 48-824, which last raced at Pocono Raceway in June 2014.

#55-David Ragan: will drive primary chassis 775, which Brett Moffitt drove to a 29th place finish at Texas, Backup: 814 - finished eighth at Atlanta with Moffitt. In 2014 it finished 16th at Indianapolis with Clint Bowyer. Vickers finished 13th at Richmond in September & 37th at Charlotte in October.

#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr.: This weekend, crew chief Greg Ives will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-882. Earnhardt most recently raced the chassis to a 20th-place finish at Charlotte in October 2014.

- compiled by Jayski.com

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