Darlington Raceway Competition Notes
TEAM AND RACE NOTES:
Front Row Motorsports heads to Darlington Raceway with three unique schemes for NASCAR Throwback Weekend, honoring grassroots racing and iconic looks.
Layne Riggs will race the No. 38 Infinity Communications Group Ford F-150 paying homage to his father, Scott, who raced the RC Cola-inspired scheme during the 2000 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series season for Impact Motorsports. In his limited schedule that year, Scott had seven top-10s in 15 starts, including a 5th-place finish at Richmond (V.A.) Raceway. Layne will also have Orange County Speedway featured next to his name, honoring his hometown track.
Coming off a 14th-place finish at the Kansas Speedway, a personal-best at the track, Todd Gilliland and the gener8tor crew head to Darlington looking to top Gilliland's 11th place finish in last year's event. Gilliland's throwback scheme will pay homage to his first CARS Tour Late Model win in 2015 at Southern National Motorsports Park, racing for his father, David.
In honor of the NASCAR's Throwback Weekend, Long John Silver's will be featuring a retro scheme inspired by the restaurant's 1970s branding from their first location in Lexington, KY, featuring the iconic pirate - Long John Silver - on the car. McDowell will look to continue the momentum fresh off his third top-10 of the season, last weekend at Kansas. The 39-year-old has two top-10s at Darlington, both coming in the 2022 season.
Track activity will be from Friday through Sunday. It's a one day show for the Infinity Communications Group crew with Truck Series practice and qualifying at 3:00 p.m. ET on Friday, May 10th. The 147-lap event will take place Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1. The Cup Series will have practice and qualifying on Saturday, May 11th at 10:30 am ET. The Goodyear 400 will take place Sunday, May 12th at 3:00 p.m. ET and will be televised live on FS1. Fans can also listen in on all the action live from Sirius XM and the Motor Racing Network.
CUP SERIES COMPETITION NOTES:
No. 34 Long John Silver's Ford Mustang Dark Horse:
DRIVER MICHAEL MCDOWELL:
"This is such a cool weekend and a fun race, especially with Long John Silver's participating with their throwback scheme. It's a big challenge, but last year we had really fast cars in both races. That's really given us a lot of confidence that we can go into Darlington and get a good result to keep up our good momentum from last week."
CREW CHIEF TRAVIS PETERSON:
"We are looking forward to building on the Kansas top-10, finally feel like we got this bad luck out of the way. Darlington is a very difficult track, the different corners on each end and the falloff make for ever changing conditions to plan for. It’s an exciting challenge and a very rewarding place to run well, so hopefully we can keep our car up front."
No. 38 gener8tor Ford Mustang Dark Horse:
DRIVER TODD GILLILAND:
"Darlington is such a fun, but difficult and frustrating track. You have to manage your tires and not make any mistakes. We have some momentum from our 14th place at Kansas that I know will carry into this weekend. Hopefully we can use it and bring home another solid finish in my throwback scheme."
CREW CHIEF RYAN BERGENTY:
"Throwback weekend is always special. It's really cool to see Todd (Gilliland) honoring his roots and not forgetting where he came from. He had a solid showing in last year's race, and with the momentum we have now, I think we can have another one."
TRUCK SERIES COMPETITION NOTES:
No. 38 Infinity Communications Group Ford F-150:
DRIVER LAYNE RIGGS:
"Darlington is a brutal track. They don't call it "Too Tough to Tame" for nothing. I have to take each corner with near perfection to not chew up my tires. It kind of brings me back to my late model days where I had to learn the tire management game and old school racing style. I saw a lot of progress out of this group last week even though the results don't show it. I'm confident going into his weekend, for sure."
CREW CHIEF DYLAN CAPPELLO:
"This is a tough track without a doubt, but we're prepared. Darlington is all about tire management, and with Layne's short track background, I know he'll be able to handle it. He's been logging laps in the simulator, and I've been building a fast Infinity Communications Group Ford F-150. We'll be ready."