TRACK – Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile quad-oval)
NXS RACE – Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 (200 laps / 300 miles)
TUNE IN – CW, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90 at 2:00 p.m. (ET)
- Carson Kvapil will make his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend.
- On active intermediate tracks in the NXS, Kvapil has 10 starts with a best finish of second at Dover in 2024.
- According to NASCAR Loop Data Statistics, the 21-year-old Mooresville native ranks fifth in quality passes this season.
- Carolina Carports, America’s leader in carports and garages since 1997, will make its debut on Kvapil’s Chevrolet this weekend.
- Justin Allgaier has earned a best NXS finish of second at the 1.5-mile quad-oval, coming in the spring of 2021.
- Overall, in 27 career NXS starts at Texas, Allgaier has amassed seven top-five and 15 top- 10 finishes.
- In this event last year, the JRM driver started sixth and led a race-high 117 laps before ultimately taking the checkered flag in the third position.
- Sammy Smith has raced at Texas twice with the NXS, where he has one top-five and two top-10 finishes. His best finish of third came in 2023.
- Smith has 46 starts on tracks up to 1.5 miles in length. Of those starts, he has two wins, 11 top-fives and 25 top-10s.
- The 20-year-old driver is currently ranked third in the series for best average running position so far this year according to NASCAR’s Loop Data Statistics.
- Pilot will share the TV panel this weekend with Hurricane Express; one of America’s leading providers of temperature-controlled transportation for food-grade shipments.
- Connor Zilisch will make his first Texas start in the NXS on Saturday afternoon. Earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a track very similar to Texas, Zilisch started third and led 28 laps on the way to a ninth-place finish.
- Zilisch has four starts on non-drafting tracks larger than one mile this season. He has two top-10 finishes, highlighted by a sixth-place effort at Darlington Raceway. The driver of the Blues Hog Chevrolet has led 32 laps and has qualified fourth or better in three of those races, giving him an average starting position of 6.25.
- Zilisch was sidelined by an incident on the final lap of last week’s race at Talladega Superspeedway, leaving him with a 27th-place finish. He is sixth in the NXS driver standings, 150 points behind leader Justin Allgaier.
- The chase for Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors is a tight battle between Zilisch and JR Motorsports teammate Carson Kvapil. Kvapil leads Zilisch by seven points (306-299) entering this weekend’s race at Texas.
Carson Kvapil: “I am looking forward to getting to Texas and checking another track off the list. JRM does well at intermediate tracks and we have had luck at them as well so hopefully we can get a great finish for Carolina Carports. I know this No. 1 team will give me a solid piece, so we just need to be smart and be there at the end when it counts.”
Justin Allgaier: “Texas has been a strong track for us the last few years. We were close last year, and I know that we are going to have that same speed when we unload on Friday. Everyone on this Jarrett team is ready to go, and we know what we need to do to be just those couple spots better at the end on Saturday.”
Sammy Smith: ““We had a fast Pilot Chevrolet at Talladega until we got caught up in an incident so I’m looking forward to Texas this weekend where we can redeem ourselves and get the finish this team deserves.”
Connor Zilisch:“I’m excited to go to Texas for the first time. It’s a high-speed track and I feel like we’ve been really good at tracks like that this year. We ran well at Las Vegas earlier this season and hopefully we can back up that good run at Texas. We have Blues Hog on our car for the first time this weekend at Texas and hopefully we can have a good run for them on Saturday. It’s important to go into the off-week with some momentum. We’ve had some bad luck lately but hopefully we can have a good, clean day and learn the track as quickly as possible. This is also going to be one of the hotter races of the season as we get into the summer months and getting ready for that physically is important as well.”
JRM Team Updates
- JR Motorsports at Texas Motor Speedway: JR Motorsports has competed at Texas Motor Speedway a combined 106 times in the NXS since 2006. In those starts at the 1.5-mile quad-oval, the organization has recorded three wins, 31 top-fives and 67 top-10s. The average finish is 11.0.
- Souvenir Rig: JRM drivers will be signing autographs at the JR Motorsports / HMS-Byron/Bowman souvenir rig on Saturday, May 3 at the following times:
Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier – 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. CT
Sammy Smith – 10:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. CT
Connor Zilisch – 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. CT