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| A.J. Allmendinger is 15/1 to win Sunday at Sonoma. |
Date/Time: Sunday, June 24 at 3:00pmET
TV Network/Radio: FS1 | PRN Radio | SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1
RACING AT SONOMA RACEWAY: “I love racing at Sonoma Raceway,” Allmendinger said. “It’s a racetrack where when we go there, we feel like we always have a chance to run up front and be in the top-five, maybe win the race. Sonoma is really hard on rear tires, so that’s something we always focus on in practice. We have some good notes from last year to help set up the car to save the rear tires, but we can always make improvements on our long run speed. I think we’ll be good at Sonoma if we execute. Having a clean race and a good day on pit road will make for a great day. In these races, if you give yourself a chance, anything can happen. More than anything I focus on, winning is definitely the ultimate goal, but we have just got to go focus and execute for a whole weekend and get a great finish out of it in our Kroger ClickList Camaro ZL1. It’s a racetrack where we can really gain some points and have a good weekend.”
PRACTICING FOR A ROAD COURSE RACE: “When we get out to Sonoma and you get out on track for practice, even though I’m a road course guy, it takes a few laps to get acclimated again,” Allmendinger said. “However, I think it comes back quickly. I ran the Rolex 24-Hour race in Daytona (International Speedway), which is a very different track and car, but still a road course. Unlike a lot of other racetracks, Sonoma has a lot of breaking points that are all fairly close to the same. Even though it’s a different aero package, that comes back pretty naturally. Because of the track schedule, we really only have two practice sessions on Friday to get the Kroger ClickList Camaro ZL1 dialed in. It feels like right away when we get on the racetrack, we have to assess how it’s handling and how it’s doing on rear tires in our first runs. I think the lighter aero we get, the tighter we’re going to get, so it’s going to be critical to get that setup right on Friday.”
ROAD COURSE STAGE RACING: “With stage racing, it’s a little bit of a different approach,” Allmendinger said. “Last year was the first year we got to race with stage racing on a road course, and it really shook up the field. We got put in the back at one point during the stage, and I got aggressive and spun out. At the end of the day, it’s like any other race. You have to have a clean race, clean pit stops and execute to make sure everything we do at the racetrack is on point. We work really well together on our Kroger ClickList team, and I know we have the crew that can put together a solid weekend. It’s a challenging racetrack but I love it. It’s my home track, and it would be a big win for sure and so special for so many reasons. I’m really looking forward to getting out west and having a great weekend in front of all of our partners and hometown fans.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 MAXWELL HOUSE MAX CAMARO ZL1
RACING AT SONOMA RACEWAY: “I’ve only been to Sonoma Raceway twice, so I don’t have a whole lot of experience as far as that goes.” Buescher said. “I enjoy road racing. It’s not my background, but I like the change of pace. I like to do something different. I feel like I’ve adapted fairly well to it, even got a win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on their road course in the NASCAR XFINITY Series in 2014. It’s helped even more having AJ (Allmendinger) as a teammate, somebody I can really lean on when we go to road races to get some advice. That’s been awesome for me to have that person to try to teach me the fine details to make our Maxwell House Max team that much better than the rest of the field at road courses. Sonoma is a beautiful area, and we’re thrilled to have a ton of our partners attending this weekend that are our biggest supporters. It’s just a nice road course. It’ll be hot, which throws an extra curve ball at the setup. But as far as knowing much about the track, the biggest things that help me are trying to run the simulator beforehand and get on iRacing. Anything I can do to run laps and familiarize myself with breaking points and track features. When you get there for the real thing it’s different, but at least you know what corner is coming up next and you get to refresh your memory.”
LIMITED PRACTICE TIME: “Since Sonoma Raceway is so far from home, we really don’t head out there to test,” Buescher said. “We rely very heavily on watching old races, going in and getting in a simulator, or even getting behind an iRacing platform to run simulated laps and try to feel everything out. That’s the best thing I know to do right now. We were really good last year at Sonoma, earning our best qualifying effort of the season and I think between that and some tips from AJ, we’ll be in a really good spot to have a strong run in our No. 37 Maxwell House Max Camaro ZL1.”
SONOMA RACEWAY FAST FACTS
AJ ALLMENDINGER
Career Starts: 9
Career Wins: 0
Top-5 Finishes: 0
Top-10 Finishes: 2
Pole Awards: 1 – 6/28/2015
Laps Led: 60
Average Start: 11.7
Average Finish: 22.4
CHRIS BUESCHER
Career Starts: 2
Career Wins: 0
Top-5 Finishes: 0
Top-10 Finishes: 0
Laps Led: 4
Average Start: 22.5
Average Finish: 24.5
FAST FACTS – AJ ALLMENDINGER
Career Starts: 350
Wins: 1- 8/10/2014 Watkins Glen International
Top-fives: 10
Top-10s: 54
Pole Awards: 4
First Pole: 4/10/2010 ISM Raceway
Last Pole: 8/9/2015 Watkins Glen International
First Start: 3/25/2007 Bristol Motor Speedway
Best Start: 1st – 8/9/2015 Watkins Glen International (most recent)
Best Finish: 1st – 8/10/2014 Watkins Glen International
Driver DOB: 12/16/1981
Hometown: Los Gatos, CA
Crew Chief: Tristan Smith
FAST FACTS – CHRIS BUESCHER
Career Starts: 93
Wins: 1 – 8/1/2016 Pocono Raceway
Top-fives: 3
Top-10s: 7
Pole Awards: 0
First Start: 3/22/2015 Auto Club Speedway
Best Start: 9th – 6/25/2017 Sonoma Raceway
Best Finish: 1st – 8/1/2016 Pocono Raceway
Driver DOB: 10/29/1992
Hometown: Prosper, TX
Crew Chief: Trent Owens
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