NCWTS: Spencer Gallagher Bristol Motor Speedway Race Preview

Gallagher Thunders Into His Rookie Experience at Bristol
Bristol Beginner… “Thunder Valley” comes alive once again for the UNOH 200, as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) returns to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (BMS) for the highly anticipated mid-week contest at BMS. Spencer Gallagher, driver of the No. 23 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet is making his first NCWTS start at “The Last Great Colosseum” on Wednesday night. BMS marks Gallagher’s eighth NCWTS track debut on his rookie campaign.

Half-Mile History… The Las Vegas native may be making his first NCWTS start at Bristol, but he is not completely green to “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile”. The high-banked, high-speed style of short track racing at BMS is nothing new to Gallagher as he made a start in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East at BMS in 2012 during a part-time schedule. He has plenty of experience on similar racetracks in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, with six combined starts at Salem (Ind.) Speedway and Winchester (Ind.) Speedway. Gallagher has top-10 finishes to his credit at both Indiana tracks, which boast high banks and high speeds, closely resembling BMS.

Rookie Season Breakdown… Through 13 of the 23 events in his rookie NCWTS season, Gallagher resides inside the top 10 in the NCWTS driver championship standings in ninth position. His season-best, and career-best, finish of second came in June at Gateway Motorsports Park. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender has collected one top five, three top 10’s, and eight top-15 finishes thus far in 2015.

Bristol Chassis Selection… GMS Racing chassis No. 021 will hit “The World’s Fastest Half Mile” in its first tour of duty since June. Gallagher most recently drove this Allegiant Travel Chevrolet to his career-best finish of second at Gateway Motorsports Park. This chassis was also raced at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in March where a strong top-10 run resulted in a 14th-place finish after a Green-White-Checkered finish.

Travel with Allegiant…  Allegiant offers service to three eastern Tennessee destinations for race fans traveling to “Thunder Valley” and the “Night Race at Bristol”. The Tri-Cities (TRI), Knoxville (TYS), and Chattanooga (CHA) airports offer non-stop service to and from four Florida cities. Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Company is focused on linking travelers in small cities to world-class leisure destinations. The company operates a low-cost, high-efficiency, all-jet passenger airline through its subsidiary, Allegiant Air, while also offering other travel-related products such as hotel rooms, rental cars, and attraction tickets.

Social Media… Be sure to follow GMS Racing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @GMSRacingLLC, and Spencer Gallagher on Facebook and @23SpeedRacer on Twitter. For additional information on GMS Racing, visit www.GMSracing.net.

Tune-In Alert… GMS Racing hosts a weekly webcast series as a behind-the-scenes experience for fans. “Before the Green Flag” features race previews and storylines leading up to race weekends with interviews from drivers and all of the personalities that make up GMS Racing. “Before the Green Flag” can be found on the GMSracing.net Multimedia page, GMS Racing’s Youtube Channel, and at GMSRacingLLC on Facebook and Twitter.

Meet Spencer… On Wednesday afternoon, Gallagher is scheduled to visit the Team Chevy display for a Q & A session. Fans that are unable to attend the BMS weekend kickoff can interact with Gallagher on Periscope as he is scheduled to lead a virtual tour of the NCWTS garage from the @NASCARONFOX handle at 1:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday afternoon.

SPENCER GALLAGHER QUOTE:

On what he remembers from his first Bristol experience in 2012:
“(Bristol) is an intense place. It’s the most mentally intense track we go to, just because of the pace of everything that’s going on. I’m looking forward to getting back there. I really like it. There’s a lot of high speed short tracks around, but no place with the progressive, concrete banking of Bristol. There truly is no ‘safe’ place on the racetrack there. It seems like you’re always in traffic and figuring out what groove is the fast place to run with our Allegiant Travel Chevrolet is going to be a continuous challenge.”

On what previous short track experience he will rely on in his first NCWTS Bristol start:
“I’m going to rely on my experience in the ARCA (Racing Series) days a lot going there. It is similar to a couple tracks we ran, like Salem and Winchester, places I always got along with. The reaction time you have to have (at Bristol) is so lightning-quick. You’ve got to be looking a full straightaway ahead of you to be prepared for what might be coming your way the whole race. We’re bring the chassis we ran great with at Martinsville and finished second with at Gateway. It’s been a great Allegiant Travel Chevrolet, and we’re prepared to run well again in it at Bristol on Wednesday night.”

ABOUT GMS RACING, LLC: GMS Racing LLC, competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards with drivers Spencer Gallagher, Brandon Jones, and Grant Enfinger. Formerly based out of Las Vegas, Nevada, home of Allegiant Travel, GMS Racing is now housed in a state of the art 51,000-square-foot shop in Statesville, North Carolina.