Friday, June 5, 2015

Pocono Driver Chassis Selections: 2015 Axalta 400

Harvick is using winning Phoenix chassis; it was also second at Richmond

#3-Austin Dillon: will pilot Chassis No. 481 in Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway. Dillon recently finished sixth in the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway in this Chevrolet. In March, Dillon raced this Chevrolet SS 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 in 2014 to a 25th-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a 13th-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October, a 16th-place finish at Chicagoland Speedway in September, a 22nd-place finish at Michigan International Speedway in August and a 10th-place finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July.

#4-Kevin Harvick: Chassis Information: Chassis No. 4-841: Kevin Harvick will pilot the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John's Chevrolet SS built on Chassis No. 4-841 in the Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. Built in 2014, Chassis No. 4-841 served as an unused backup for 19 races last season and never saw racing action of any kind. Chassis No. 4-841 finally made its Sprint Cup debut this past March at Phoenix International Raceway, where it scored a dominant win from the pole and led 224 laps to score Harvick's second win of the 2015 season. In its most recent appearance, Chassis No. 4-841 started fifth, led two laps and finished second at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway.

#5-Kasey Kahne: Crew chief Keith Rodden has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-888 for Sunday's race at Pocono. Most notably in 2014, Kahne led 70 laps and finished sixth driving the chassis at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July and raced it at Pocono in August, where he started 12th and finished 10th. In 2015, Kahne drove the chassis at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, where he ran inside the top three for the majority of the race. However, he was involved in a late-race incident when a competitor sent him toward the wall on a restart. He ultimately finished 17th. Most recently, Kahne drove the chassis at Kansas Speedway, where he qualified second.

#14-Tony Stewart: Chassis No. 14-754: This car debuted in March 2013 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where it qualified ninth and finished a solid 11th. Prior to Las Vegas, it had never turned a wheel on a racetrack, but it did spend considerable time in the wind tunnel. Its second start came in April 2013 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, where it qualified 13th and struggled with its handling before finishing 21st. Its last start of 2013 came in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, where it started 13th and finished 14th in the non-points event. Chassis No. 14-754 sat idle until 2014, where under the direction of crew chief Chad Johnston, it was completely rebuilt. It came out of the box strong in its fourth career start in April at Texas, winning the pole and leading three times for 74 laps before finishing 10th. Chassis No. 14-754 made a second All-Star Race appearance at Charlotte in 2014. It had a quiet night, starting 15th and finishing 12th. The car didn't turn a wheel until March 2015 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, where it put in a workman-like performance by qualifying 20th and finishing 14th. Sunday at Pocono will mark Chassis No. 14-754's seventh career start and second this season.

#24-Jeff Gordon: Crew chief Alan Gustafson has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 24-914 for Sunday's race. The chassis has been raced three times - twice in 2015 at Kansas and Atlanta and once in 2014 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. At Kansas, Gordon finished fourth while he finished 41st at Atlanta after being involved in an incident on Lap 264 while running in the top 10. In the 2014 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Gordon led 161 laps from the pole position en route to a 10th-place finish.

#27-Paul Menard: will utilize chassis No. 454. This Chevrolet SS was raced earlier this season at Bristol Motor Speedway where Menard started ninth and finished 11th, capturing the team's fifth top-15 finish of the year.

#31-Ryan Newman: will drive chassis No. 491 in the Pocono 400. This Chevrolet was utilized earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Start: 9/Finish: 5). Note: Jazzed-up tires possibility at Vegas

#32-Travis Kvapil: Crew Chief Clinton Cram will be bringing chassis GGR-784 to serve as the primary car. Mike Bliss last drove this car at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May for the Sprint Showdown. Chassis GGR-289 will serve as the backup car for this weekend.

#33-Ty Dillon: will pilot chassis No. 512 for this weekend's Pocono 400. This brand-new Chevrolet SS was prepared by Richard Childress Racing and will see track action for the first time during Friday's practice session.

#41-Kurt Busch: Chassis No. 894: Kurt Busch will pilot Chassis No. 894 in Sunday's Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. Formerly a No. 10 chassis for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) teammate Danica Patrick, Chassis No. 894 debuted at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in October 2014, when Patrick qualified 14th and appeared to be on her way to a top-10 finish before her solid run was derailed when she was involved in an on-track incident at lap 247. Chassis No. 894 was outfitted with a new body over the offseason and saw its first laps of the season in February at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where Regan Smith started 38th and finished 17th. Busch raced Chassis 894 in April at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, where he started from the pole and led twice for 45 laps en route to scoring a 14th-place finish.

#47-A.J. Allmendinger: Chassis 429: "We are taking the car that we ran in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and we also ran it at Las Vegas Motor Speedway," crew chief Burns said.

#48-Jimmie Johnson: For this weekend's event, crew chief Chad Knaus has selected chassis No. 48-891, which last raced in March at Fontana for a ninth-place finish. The backup car is 48-824, which last raced at Pocono in June 2014.

#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr.: This weekend, crew chief Greg Ives and the No. 88 team will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-924. Earnhardt most recently raced the chassis to a sixth-place finish at California in March.

compiled by Jayski.com

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