JTG DAUGHERTY RACING
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY ADVANCE
Event: O’Reilly Auto Parts 500
Date/Time: Sunday, April 8 at 2:00 PM ET
TV Network/Radio: FS1 / PRN Radio / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1
NOTES FROM INTERMEDIATE TRACKS IN 2018: “There’s always little things that we can take from Atlanta (Motor Speedway) and Las Vegas (Motor Speedway),” Allmendinger said. “Since the repave, Texas Motor Speedway is very different now. I think we’re still learning the new racetrack.”
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY REPAVE: “Tracks that go through these repaves change a lot for the first couple of races,” Allmendinger said. “The winter months can definitely change a new surface, and getting the cars back on the track and putting the rubber down again makes it a new racing surface. The track changes a lot, but more than anything, there’s a lot that no matter what race you go to, you can learn something good or bad. Texas last year, both of our cars had some good speed so hopefully we can go there and get some speed again out of the racecars and have good runs.”
MOMENTUM FROM MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY EIGHTH-PLACE FINISH: “I’m a racer, so I always want more than an eighth-place finish,” Allmendinger said. “We were not far off and we are making gains. We’re on our own here. It’s the first time in how-many-years we’ve been on our own with no real alliance. Hendrick [Motorsports] has helped us a lot with the simulation side of it, but we’re learning a lot on our own. But I have to say, they’ve gone above and beyond to help us. They do a lot to go out there and make sure we’re at least in the right direction. Kenny Francis [of HMS], who I’ve worked with in the past at Petty (Richard Petty Motorsports), has helped us out a ton. In general, when we get back to the race shop, it’s on us to build these race cars. We’re doing a good job, but the results haven’t shown it yet this year. We’ve definitely got more speed than we had last year. We’re learning together and it’ll make us closer in the future, for sure.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 BUSH’S BEANS CAMARO ZL1
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY HOME TRACK: “Usually I get to talk about how excited I am to get back to Texas and see family and friends,” Buescher said. “With the wedding last weekend, it’ll be nice to see everyone for a few weeks. It’s always nice to get back to my hometown and see the evolvement of the area. It’s crazy to see how much that area has grown. It’s always fun to go back home and now the track has a racing surface that I’ve run better on so I’ve been probably the biggest fan of the repave there.”
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY REPAVE: “The repave at Texas (Motor Speedway) has been really good to me,” Buescher said. “I’ve been better on the newer surface for whatever reason. We had a really good car there for the spring race last season, and we got turned on pit road and it ruined our day. Looking at the speed we had, I’m really confident going back to that racetrack. That’s a place we can go and have a really good run for an intermediate track.”
TAKE NOTES FROM ATLANTA AND LAS VEGAS TO TEXAS: “I would say that there’s got to be some stuff from Las Vegas Motor Speedway that we can overlay,” Buescher said. “I feel like some of the bumps at Las Vegas that are getting worse, Texas doesn’t have them in Turns 1 and 2 right now. Turns 3 and 4 did keep some of the character there that were in the old surface. There’s just a lot more grip in the asphalt. We’ll be able to carry some of the things over, but Texas is an extremely fast racetrack right now. In Turns 3 and 4, you’re barely off the throttle for any period of time, and you’re right back in it wide open way before the center of the corner. That’s hard to convince yourself to do, but it is cool. There are definitely different factors that are going to come into play. We’re constantly learning this season. We had so many changes in the offseason and everyone at JTG Daugherty Racing has done such a great job. Everyone back at the shop has worked really hard to figure out what we needed to do better this season that we didn’t have last year. It showed pretty early on that we made those big gains. We need to keep fine tuning it, keep working on it and keep getting it better.”
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TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY FAST FACTS
AJ ALLMENDINGER
Career Starts: 18
Career Wins: 0
Top-5 Finishes: 0
Top-10 Finishes: 2
Laps Led: 0
Average Start: 20.5
Average Finish: 20.3
CHRIS BUESCHER
Career Starts: 5
Career Wins: 0
Top-5 Finishes: 0
Top-10 Finishes: 0
Laps Led: 0
Average Start: 33.6
Average Finish: 24.4
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FAST FACTS – AJ ALLMENDINGER
Career Starts: 341
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: 84
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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JTG DAUGHERTY RACING APPEARANCES
AJ ALLMENDINGER
WHAT: NASCAR Youth Autograph Session at Texas Motor Speedway
WHEN: Sunday, April 8th from 9:30 – 9:55 a.m. CT
CHRIS BUESCHER
WHAT: Media Pace Car Rides
WHEN: Sunday, April 8th from 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. CT
WHAT: NASCAR Trackside Live
WHEN: Sunday, April 8th from 9:35 – 9:45 a.m. CT
