Nashville Superspeedway Rackley Roofing 200 Race Preview
Race Information
- Round: NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race No. 13 of 23
- Track Location: Nashville Superspeedway - Lebanon, Tennessee
- Race Name: Rackley Roofing 200
- Broadcast: Friday, June 23rd at 8:00 PM ET live on FS1 (TV), MRN (Radio), and Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90
- Team Entrants:
No. 23 | Grant Enfinger & Jeff Hensley - Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet
No. 24 | Rajah Caruth & Chad Walter - Born Driven Chevrolet
No. 43 | Daniel Dye & Blake Bainbridge - Champion Container Corporation Chevrolet
Grant Enfinger, No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST
Nashville Superspeedway Stats
- NCTS Starts: 2; Best start: 4th (2021); Best finish: 3rd (2021); Top 5s: 1; Top 10s: 1; Laps led: 39
2023 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Season Stats
- Starts: 12; Wins: 2 (Kansas I & Gateway); Best start: 2nd; Stage wins: 1; Top 5s: 5; Top 10s: 7; Laps led: 133; Current points position: 3rd
- About Champion Power Equipment: Since 2003, Champion Power Equipment has earned a reputation for designing and producing the market’s finest power equipment. From our original headquarters in Santa Fe Springs, California, Champion has expanded its North American footprint to include facilities in Jackson, Tennessee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Toronto Canada. Today, Champion’s product line has expanded to include portable generators, home standby generators, inverter generators, engines, winches and log splitters. With over 2.5 million generators sold in North America, Champion is a market leader in the power equipment field. Visit ChampionPowerEquipment.com for more information.
- About Arlon Graphics: The history of Arlon is rooted in its customer-centric approach. What was founded in 1958 as a manufacturer of flexible materials (producing products like cork, rubber, and foam) has evolved into a global company manufacturing millions of feet of cast films. Today, Arlon Graphics is owned by FHT, a family-owned investment firm. Headquartered in Southern California, Arlon supplies the wide-format graphics industry around the world. For more information, visit Arlon.com/NA_EN.
- Winner Winner: Grant Enfinger, Jeff Hensley, and the No. 23 Champion Power Equipment team capitalized on a thrilling victory in the last NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway! The near-perfect day was huge for playoffs points, when a gutsy call to stay out at the end of Stage 1 resulted in Enfinger capturing his first stage win of 2023. After contact between two of the race leaders took them out of contention, Enfinger skated by on the low side to take the lead late en route to his second race victory of the season. The victory was his ninth overall - all coming at different tracks (Talladega, Las Vegas, Daytona, Atlanta, Richmond, Martinsville, IRP, Kansas, and now Gateway).
- GMS Secures Milestone Chevrolet Victory: Grant's win at World Wide Technology Raceway was special for many reasons, but perhaps most notably, the victory propelled Team Owner, Maury Gallagher, to the top of the hill amongst Chevrolet teams. With victory no. 44 now in the bank, GMS Racing has officially surpassed Kevin Harvick, Incorporated as the winningest Chevrolet team in NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series history, a spot that was held by KHI since November, 2011.
- Chassis History/Info: Enfinger and the No. 23 team will compete with GMS Racing chassis no. 344 at Nashville Superspeedway. Grant has driven this chassis three times before, debuting with a 14th place run at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2022 . This year, the chassis has raced at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where Grant finished 19th, and at Texas Motor Speedway, where he finished 17th after a late-race incident.
- Hensley at Nashville: Jeff Hensley has competed in 11 prior NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races at Nashville Superspeedway. Highlights for this track include a set of two poles with Mike Skinner in 2005 and 2007, along with six top-fives and seven top-10 finishes. Hensley's best race result at Nashville is a runner up finish with Brian Scott in 2009.
- $150K Up For Grabs: Nashville will be the site of the final leg of this year's running of the prestigious NASCAR Triple Truck Challenge. Grant Enfinger added his name to the list of "The Trip" winners and pocketed a cool $50,000 bonus by winning at World Wide Technology Raceway. If he can pull off the win at Nashville this weekend, his bonus will rise to a staggering $150,000. Since the program's inception in 2019, GMS Racing drivers have delivered the most wins of any organization with victories from Brett Moffitt (Iowa, 2019), Sheldon Creed (Daytona, 2020; Gateway, 2020; Darlington, 2021), Zane Smith (Dover, 2020), and the most recent winner, Enfinger (Gateway, 2023).
- Cup Series Debut: Following the most recent NCTS race at World Wide Technology Raceway, Grant Enfinger was anticipating to have a couple of weeks off. That was not the case, however, as the veteran driver was called upon to fill-in for LEGACY MOTOR CLUB and the sidelined Noah Gragson at Sonoma Raceway. While it was not the way that he would have liked to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut, Grant made the most of the opportunity and enjoyed it with a 26th place finish.
- #FearTheFinger Playoffs Profile: With two wins on the year, Enfinger is tied with Zane Smith and Christian Eckes for the series-high victory count. The two wins, in addition to his stage win at Gateway, bring his playoffs points tally up to 11 (second-highest in the league). There are only four races remaining before the start of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series playoffs, and the fight for the regular season championship is wide open and up for grabs. Enfinger's massive points day in Gateway leapfrogs him up to third in the standings, where he sits only eight points behind Ty Majeski in second and nine behind championship leader Corey Heim.
- GE Appearances: Fans attending the Rackley Roofing 200 will have an opportunity to meet Grant Enfinger on race day at Nashville Superspeedway:
PBR Stampede Tent | Friday, June 23rd: Enfinger will sign autographs and pose for photo opportunities with Professional Bull Riding riders, João Henrique Lucas and Matt Triplett, at the PBR Stampede Tent in the Nashville Superspeedway Fan Zone from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM local time.
- From The Drivers Seat: What are your thoughts and expectations heading into the last few races before the playoffs?
“We are heading into the last few races of the regular season with confidence. We are trying to collect as many points as we can so we are in a good spot when the playoffs start, but our main goal is still to win more races. Our GMS Racing guys are building good Chevys, and our No. 23 team is starting to hit our stride. Track position and clean air is important at Nashville so hopefully we can unload close and qualify well. We will have a lot of our friends from Champion Power Equipment in attendance so hopefully we can give them a reason to celebrate."
Rajah Caruth, No. 24 Born Driven Chevrolet Silverado RST
Nashville Superspeedway Stats
- Rajah Caruth will make his first start in any series at Nashville Superspeedway on Friday night.
2023 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Season Stats
- Starts: 12; Best start: 4th; Best finish: 6th (Darlington); Top 10s: 1; Current points position: 16th
- About the Wendell Scott Foundation: Founded in 2011, The Wendell Scott Foundation, Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization inspired by Wendell Scott, Sr. and provides services such as job-skill training, STEM education opportunities, mentoring, and other supportive services to at-risk, underserved youth between the ages of 8-18 years in Danville, Virginia and surrounding areas.
The Foundation's mission of using educational attainment to end racial disparities in education and health is vital in addressing economic inequality and improving future success in African-American communities. For more information, please visit www.wendellscott.org.
- Born Driven: In a partnership with the Wendell Scott Foundation, Rajah's No. 24 Chevrolet will once again sport a paint scheme inspired by the release of their new children's book. Born Driven is based on the true story of the first African-American NASCAR Driver and Team Owner, Wendell Scott. The book follows Scott as a young boy facing the challenges of growing up in the South trying to chase his dream of becoming a professional race car driver. The uplifting story will teach children how having the persistence and willingness to make a difference can overcome seemingly impossible feats. The book is available for pre-orders at major book retailers such as Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, Amazon, Simon & Schuster, and more.
- Chassis History/Info: Rajah Caruth and the No. 24 team will compete with GMS Racing chassis no. 302 at Nashville. In 2021, Sheldon Creed took this Chevrolet to victory lane at Darlington Raceway, and most recently, Caruth drove it to a sixth place finish at the same track last month. It has not been raced at Nashville before this weekend.
- Walter at Nashville: Chad Walter has only called one NCTS race at Nashville Superspeedway, where in 2021 his driver, Jack Wood, started on the outside pole. Across the garage, he has nine NASCAR Xfinity Series races under his belt as a crew chief. In 2010, Walter won the pole with Justin Allgaier, and in total, has two top-fives and four top-10's, with a best result of fourth, twice with Allgaier.
- Driver 24 Turns 21: Happy birthday Rajah! On Sunday, June 11th, the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet celebrated his 21st birthday. Caruth took some personal time to travel the country by visiting San Francisco and his hometown of Washington, D.C. before returning to Charlotte to prepare for this weekend's event in Nashville. Talk about some frequent flyer miles!
- Sunoco Rookie Battle: Caruth and the No. 24 team overcame adversity on several accounts in the most recent race at WWT Raceway. Towards the end of the practice session, Rajah noticed an ominous pitch in the engine on his Silverado, forcing the team to change the majority of the powertrain out before the start of the race and start from the tail. From there, things only got more difficult as he became involved in a crash on the opening lap of the race with major damage on the front end of his machine. The team never gave up, got him back out on track, and he was able to recover to a 15th place finish. Rajah gained a position in the drivers' points standings (16th), but remains in third for Sunoco Rookie of the Year points, 38 points behind Jake Garcia in second and 85 points behind leading rookie Nick Sanchez.
- From The Driver's Seat: Nashville is another one of those facilities that you have yet to make a start at, so what has been the biggest key in preparing you for this race weekend?
"One of the biggest keys for preparation this weekend since I haven't been to Nashville before stems from the fact that it's a concrete surface. I've raced a lot at Bristol and Dover in my short career already, and I felt like I've been pretty solid at those tracks. I'm definitely relying on that experience as well as a lot of iRacing to help get me ready and know where I'm at visually on the track for Friday. At the same time, it's no different than any other race for our No. 24 team. We treat every race like it's a playoffs race and give it our best. I'm confident that we will have a fast Wendell Scott Foundation Chevrolet this Friday night."
Daniel Dye, No. 43 Champion Container Corporation Chevrolet Silverado RST
Nashville Superspeedway Stats
- Daniel Dye will make his first start in any series at Nashville Superspeedway on Friday night.
2023 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Season Stats
- Starts: 12; Best start: 10th; Best finish: 11th (Gateway); Laps led: 5; Current points position: 18th
- About Champion Container Corporation: Founded in 1968, Champion Container has evolved into the premier general line packaging container distributor in the Northeast. From our seven strategically based locations we provide packaging container solutions to our valued domestic and international customers.
We serve a diverse customer base in the chemical, flavors and fragrances, paint, cosmetic, food, agricultural, and pharmaceutical industries. Small, medium, and Fortune 500 companies rely on Champion to deliver quality and service at a competitive price. Our strength, "just in time” shipments, is the value added provided through our own fleet of trucks and significant investment in inventory.
Our knowledgeable sales representatives and customer service associates have the expertise required to provide packaging guidance and solutions for the most unique and demanding projects. Companies rely on us to be their technical source in the ever-changing packaging container landscape. For more information, please visit www.championcontainer.com.
- Chassis History/Info: Dye and the No. 43 team will compete with GMS Racing chassis no. 348 at Nashville. Daniel has raced this Silverado twice this season, debuting it with a 13th place finish at Kansas Speedway and following it up with another top-20 finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he crossed the finish line in 19th.
- Bainbridge at Nashville: Blake Bainbridge has called two NASCAR Xfinity Series races in his career, earning a best finish of 11th with Jamie McMurray in 2005. This weekend, Bainbridge will compete in his first race at the facility as a crew chief in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.
- Sunoco Rookie Battle: Daniel Dye put together a fantastic race in St. Louis, where at one point, it appeared that he was on his way to his first-career top-five finish. The rookie ran in the second position for a good portion of the race, challenging teammate Grant Enfinger for the race lead in the closing stages of the race. Unfortunately for Dye, a miscue on pit road dropped the No. 43 Chevrolet shuffled deep in the pack, but a combination of quick restarts and wreck avoidance powered him just outside the top-10 where he earned his best-career finish, 11th. Dye gained a spot in points (18th), but is still fourth in rookie points, 13 markers behind Rajah Caruth in third and 98 points behind Nick Sanchez in first.
- From the Driver's Seat: Your performance in Gateway had to be a big confidence booster to you, so how do you think your first start in Nashville will go knowing that you are capable of running up front?
“Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to going back to another intermediate track. I think after St. Louis, we're feeling pretty good about what the No. 43 team is capable of doing each and every week. We're going to be racing the same truck as what we ran at Kansas, so hopefully some of our speed can translate there since we were able to have a good run with it in Kansas City. I'm thankful for having Champion Container onboard our Chevrolet this weekend for the second time this year; the truck looks good and we are going to try our best to give it a good run!”
