TRACK: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile tri-oval)
RACE: The LiUNA! (200 laps / 300 miles)
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 2024
TV: 5 p.m. ET on FS1
RADIO: 5 p.m. ET on PRN Radio and SiriusXM Ch. 90
Quotes:
Sam Mayer: "I am eager to get back to the mile-and-a-half tracks as those are truly my favorite to race on. We had a really good run at Las Vegas last fall and then to go to Homestead to get that first win on a mile-and-a-half gave me a lot of confidence heading into these intermediates. I'm happy to have Club Car on board for this weekend and I hope we can have a nice finish for them or even better, get them to Victory Lane."
Justin Allgaier: "JRM as a whole has been really strong at Las Vegas over the past couple of years and I see no reason why that won't continue again this weekend. Jim (Pohlman, crew chief) and everyone on this No. 7 team knows what we need to do to get our BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet up front throughout the day on Saturday. If we just go out and execute like we know we can, I feel extremely confident we will be in contention for the win on Saturday afternoon."
Sammy Smith: "After our first race together at Atlanta, my crew proved once again that we're here to be competitive. They remained levelheaded even after that late-race caution that pushed us over our fuel window and got me back out in time to charge to a top-10 finish. Our Pilot Flying J Chevrolet has been strong these first two races so I'm eager to get to the intermediates and see what we can do, starting with Las Vegas."
Brandon Jones: "This No. 9 team has put some really fast cars on the track and up to this point I don't think the results show that. We had some setbacks last week in Atlanta and I am hoping we can refocus as a team and put on a good show in Vegas this weekend. With a little luck on our side in 'Sin City' we will park our Menards/Jeld-Wen Chevrolet in Victory Lane. After all the hard work this team has put in, they deserve it."
Notes:
- Sam Mayer returns to Las Vegas Motor Speedway coming off an 11th-place finish after a hard-fought battle at Atlanta last Saturday.
- In five starts at the 1.5-mile speedway, the Franklin Wis. native has tallied one top-five and three top-10 efforts with his best finish of fifth coming in his most recent start at Vegas in the fall of last year (2023).
- Within the young driver's 23 starts on tracks measuring 1.5 miles in length, Mayer has one win (Homestead 2023), six top fives and 13 top 10s. Mayer's victory at Homestead last season propelled the JRM driver into the Championship 4 for the first time.
- The 20-year-old will carry his third new partner of the season into Las Vegas with Club Car riding on board the No. 1 Chevrolet.
- Justin Allgaier has been strong in recent years in 'Sin City,' finishing no worse than sixth in each of the last five NXS events dating back to the fall of 2021.
- Overall, in 19 NXS starts at Las Vegas, Allgaier has scored 10 top fives and 16 top 10s, with an additional 277 laps led.
- Four of those 10 top-fives were in the runner-up position for Allgaier, including this event last season.
- In his career on tracks between 1 and 2 miles in length, Allgaier has amassed a combined 12 wins, 76 top fives and 144 top 10s in 231 starts in the NXS.
- Sammy Smith only has two starts at Las Vegas thus far in his NXS career, but he has a solid average starting position of 8.5 and has finished 17th in both events.
- Smith has scored one top-five and three top 10s over his last four starts on 1.5-mile tracks in the NXS, with a best finish of third coming at Texas last fall.
- In 18 career NXS starts on tracks measuring 1-2 miles in length, Smith has scored one win (Phoenix 2023), three top fives and 11 top 10s.
- Through the opening two races of the season, Smith has recorded one top-10, coming this past weekend in Atlanta.
- Brandon Jones has made 14 NXS starts at Las Vegas and has tallied two top-five and 10 top-10 finishes with a best of third coming during the 2019 and 2021 seasons.
- Additionally, Jones has made two starts at Las Vegas in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and scored one top-five and one top-10 finish (fifth in 2015).
- On tracks measuring between 1-2 miles in length in the NXS, Jones has four wins, 19 top-five and 59 top-10 finishes in a combined 133 starts.
- Jeld-Wen will adorn the hood of the No.9 Chevrolet at Las Vegas this weekend, the third time in a row the company will appear on the hood at the 1.5-mile tri-oval.