Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Michigan Driver Chassis Selections: 2015 Quicken Loans 400 (minus Hendrick cars)

What chassis is Jimmie Johnson using this week? HMS not sharing.
It's very disappointing to see Hendrick Motorsports no longer offer chassis selections in their team press releases. Joe Gibbs Racing stopped giving out the information three seasons ago after a trip to Las Vegas, which makes one wonder if it has a little something to do with gambling. Even the NFL, which is on record with disliking gambling on the their sport (funny), offers a required injury report by each team every Thursday before game day, which appeals mostly to gamblers. Isn't the point of sending out press releases to give as much information as possible from each team to the public to ready everyone for race day?

A large portion of what goes into each driver's weekly rating that helps set the odds is based on what chassis each team is using and now the only cars that matter that still offer the information are the Stewart-Haas cars. We reached out to Hendrick Motorsports for an explanation hoping it was just an oversight, but haven't received a call back. We'll update more later.

Update: It's not an oversight. This will be on-going and they will not be giving out chassis info. Still waiting for more details and an official comment on why the change from HMS. If speculating, which is all we can do since HMS won't comment, maybe they don't want NASCAR to know what chassis they're using so certain cars that were penalized -- which happens often with the No. 48 team -- won't be flagged for deeper inspections. The No. 48 just won an appeal, but the ban on chassis information came immediately after, which makes more sense than the gambling angle. But we won't fully know the motives. The info is just gone now. Maybe NASCAR should step in and mandate chassis information released as a counter move if HMS is in fact doing it to be as discreet as possible.      

#3-Austin Dillon: will pilot Chassis No. 507 in the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. This Chevrolet SS was built new for the 2015 season and been utilized twice so far in 2015, with Dillon earning a 22nd-place finish at Kansas Speedway in May and a 20th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in April.

#4-Kevin Harvick: Chassis Information: Chassis No. 4-858: Kevin Harvick will pilot the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John's Chevrolet SS built on Chassis No. 4-858 in the Michigan 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. Built in 2014, Chassis No. 4-858 made its debut April 7 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, where the car started third and finished 42nd after a mechanical problem. Chassis No. 4-858 made its second appearance in May at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. Harvick started 11th and led 100 laps en route to a runner-up finish. In its final appearance of 2014, it started and finished third and led 104 laps at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. Chassis No. 4-858 won its first start of 2015, when it started 18th and led 142 laps en route to the win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. In its most recent appearance, Harvick started sixth, led 53 laps and finished second at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City in May.

#27-Paul Menard: Chassis No. 508 has been selected for the Richard Childress Racing team to use in this weekend's Quicken Loans 400. This Chevrolet SS has seen action twice this season at Texas Motor Speedway (Start: 8 / Finish: 41) and Kansas Speedway (Start: 22 / Finish: 18).

#31-Ryan Newman: will drive chassis No. 511 in the Quicken Loans 400. This Chevrolet was utilized earlier this season at Charlotte Motor Speedway (Start: 19/Finish: 6).

#32-Mike Bliss: Crew Chief Clinton Cram will be bringing chassis GGR 815 to serve as the primary car for this weekends Quicken Loans 400. This chassis last ran at Kansas Speedway on May 9th with Joey Gase behind the wheel. Chassis GGR 289 will serve as the backup car.

#33-TyDillon: will pilot chassis No. 512 for this weekend's Quicken Loan's 400. This brand new chassis prepared by Richard Childress Racing will see track action for the first time during the practice session on Friday morning.

#41-Kurt Busch: Chassis No. 837: Kurt Busch will pilot Chassis No. 837 in Sunday's Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. Formerly a No. 10 chassis for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) teammate Danica Patrick, Chassis No. 837 debuted in May 2014 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, where Patrick had one of the best outings of her career as she started ninth and finished seventh. Its next event was in June at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, where Patrick started 10th and finished 21st. Chassis No. 837 was then tested Aug. 25 and 26 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois before being used at the same racetrack for September's race, in which Patrick started 18th and finished 19th. Chassis No. 837 saw its first laps of 2015 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, where Busch qualified the car on the pole and led six times for 65 laps en route to earning a third-place finish. It was most recently raced last month at Kansas, where Busch started and finished eighth.

#47-A.J. Allmendinger: Chassis 501: "We raced this car at Fontana (Auto Club Speedway) and at Charlotte (Motor Speedway)," crew chief Brian Burns said.

- compiled by Jayski.com

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