TRACK: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
RACE: B&L Transport 170 (75 laps / 169.35 miles)
DATE: Saturday, June 5, 2021
TV: 1 p.m. ET on FS1
RADIO: 12:30 p.m. ET on MRN and SiriusXM Ch. 90
Quotes:
Michael Annett: “Our Pilot Flying J Chevrolet was pretty good in the rain at COTA, and we were solid at Daytona on the road course, so this weekend’s race at Mid-Ohio is a good chance for our No. 1 team to post a solid finish. We have had good pace and the finishes will come. Bummy (crew chief Mike Bumgarner) and the team has been giving me really good cars. We just need to get the finishes from here on out.”
Justin Allgaier: “I’ve always really enjoyed racing at Mid-Ohio. It’s a challenging, but fun road course. We had a strong run just a couple weeks ago on the road course at COTA and I feel extremely confident that we will have that same kind of speed with our BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet on Saturday. It’s a big weekend for BRANDT with Miguel (Paludo) back in the No. 8, so hopefully we can both have a strong day and battle it out for the win in the end.”
Miguel Paludo: “I can’t wait to get to Mid-Ohio this weekend with our No. 8 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet. Taylor (Moyer, crew chief) and all the guys on this team have given me great cars during our first two races and I know we will be just as fast this weekend. I can’t thank everyone at JR Motorsports enough for this opportunity and hopefully we can go out there and race for the victory with our BRANDT teammate Justin (Allgaier) on Saturday. I’m ready to go.”
Noah Gragson: “I’m really looking forward to Mid-Ohio this weekend. We’ve always had fast cars here and this track really suits my driving style as you have to be aggressive with the car. We didn’t get a chance to race here last year but in 2019 we raced to a fifth-place finish after suffering a lot of damage part of the way through. This entire team is really putting in the work to make sure this Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/Black Rifle Coffee Camaro is fast enough to secure our way into the playoffs and there’s no better weekend to do it than this one.”
Notes:
• In four starts at the 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Michael Annett has improved his results in each event, his best coming in 2019 when the Iowa native finished 13th.
• In two road-course starts so far this season, Annett has finished 15th on the Daytona road course and 11th in the debut at Circuit of the Americas.
• Annett will carry a new scheme this weekend to kick off Pilot Flying J’s Summer Is a Go Road Trip Giveaway, which runs through Sept. 5. Three monthly winners will be chosen at random to receive a $250 Pilot Flying J gift card and one grand-prize winner will be randomly selected to win $5,000 in free Pilot Flying J fuel.
• Justin Allgaier has one previous victory in five NXS starts at Mid-Ohio, with the win coming in 2018.
• Overall, in 34 starts on road courses in the NXS, Allgaier has scored a total of three wins, 10 top fives and 22 top 10s.
• Two of Allgaier’s three career victories on road courses came in 2018 with JRM at Mid-Ohio and Road America. Allgaier additionally visited Victory Lane at Montreal in 2012.
• Miguel Paludo will make his third and final start of 2021 for JR Motorsports in the BRANDT Professional Agriculture No. 8 this weekend at Mid-Ohio.
• Josh Berry will make his Charlotte debut this weekend in the No. 8 Tire Pros Chevrolet.
• In two previous starts for JRM throughout the 2021 season, Paludo has a best finish of seventh coming at the Daytona Road Course.
• In five road course starts between the NXS and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Paludo has accumulated one top five and two top 10s.
• Paludo returned to the seat of his No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Porsche last weekend at Velocitta (Brazil) where he qualified and finished first on Saturday.
• Noah Gragson has been spectacular on road courses in his NXS career, posting six top-five and eight top-10 finishes in his 10 starts on such tracks.
• In his only start at Mid-Ohio in 2019, the Nevada native finished fifth and led a lap.
• Last season, Gragson finished second on the Roval at Charlotte, third at both the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedway road courses and sixth at Road America, which works out to an average finish of 3.5. The previous season, he averaged 5.8 in four road-course starts.