● When the NASCAR Cup Series arrives at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth for Sunday night’s non-points All-Star Race, Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), will feel right at home. Briscoe will be joined by Magical Vacation Planner (MVP), a powerhouse vacation planning agency founded in his hometown of Mitchell, Indiana, for the first of four races this season.
● Briscoe earned his berth in the $1 million-to-win All-Star Race by virtue of his win March 13 at Phoenix Raceway. The win also earned the 27-year-old driver a spot in the 16-driver playoff field. While Briscoe hopes to add a few more victories and further secure his playoff standing, he can be sure of one thing – that he’ll have hometown backing with MVP sponsoring four races during the playoff run – No. 14 on Sept. 11 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas Speedway, Sept. 17 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Oct. 2 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, and Oct. 23 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
● MVP was founded by Jamie Ane Eubanks alongside her husband JJ, a former professional basketball player, as a storefront travel agency in 2006. Today, it is a company that provides one of the best vacation planning services in the industry. It operates through three branches: MVP Parks, MVP Cruising and MVP Getaways. The company provides its exclusive and personalized, stress-free planning service at no additional expense to its clients, making the extensive array of Disney options and add-ons easy to understand and navigate. MVP actively seeks savings for its clients, monitoring early-morning releases of discounted room or vacation packages while also scouring existing reservations for price drops to where they can modify an existing reservation at the newfound lower price. MVP will also plan a family’s itinerary, expertly navigating Disney’s Genie + and Lighting Lane systems to maximize resort and park times by avoiding long lines while also securing those premium Disney dining experiences that include coveted character meetings.
● During last year’s All-Star Race weekend, Briscoe finished 10th in the first two stages and fourth in the final 10-lap stage of the undercard event, the All-Star Open.
● This year’s All-Star Race at Texas will be 125 laps, broken into four stages with the starting lineup being determined by a four-round qualifying format featuring head-to-head elimination rounds that highlight the speed and efficiency of each team’s pit crew. Here’s how qualifying will work:
● Opening round is the traditional single-car, one-lap format in reverse order of the current 2022 owner points.
● Fastest eight qualifiers transfer to a three-round, head-to-head elimination bracket.
● Elimination bracket will feature two cars staged in adjacent pit stalls near the end of pit road.
● At the sound of an alert, each pit crew will perform a four-tire stop and, at the drop of the jack, drivers will exit their respective pit stalls and return to the track with no pit road speed limit.
● First car back to the start-finish line advances to the next round.
● Final pairing competes for the pole.
● Once the starting field is set, the 38th edition of the All-Star Race will consist of four stages, with the first three stages 25 laps in length and the fourth and final stage being a 50-lap shootout for the $1 million prize.
● Stage 1 (25 laps): Stage 1 winner will start on the pole in the final stage as long as he finishes 15th or better in Stages 2 and 3.
● Stage 2 (25 laps): Stage 2 winner starts second in final stage as long as he finishes 15th or better in Stage 3.
● Special Stage Break (Pit Stop Competition): Each team must pit and perform a four-tire stop.The team with the shortest time on pit road (pit in to pit out) wins the pit crew award, and the driver will start fourth in the final stage as long as he finishes 15th or better in Stage 3.
● Stage 3 (25 laps): Stage 3 winner starts third in final stage.
● Stage 4 (50 laps): Stage 1 winner starts first, Stage 2 winner starts second, Stage 3 winner starts third, and pit stop competition winner starts fourth.If a caution for an on-track incident or debris happens between laps 15 and 25 of the final stage, standard race procedures will be in effect. If there is no caution during that time, NASCAR will call a competition caution. Winner of the Stage 4 earns $1 million.
| Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Magical Vacation Planner Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing: |
| You’re in your second year of Cup Series competition and started this season with a new sponsor, but now you’ve got a hometown company coming on board for five races. How does it feel to have that kind of support?“It’s pretty incredible. Jamie and JJ are great people and they’ve built an awesome company that makes planning vacations as easy as possible. We’ve used them a few times to plan trips and it’ll be cool to have them out there with us and to give them a cool experience at the track. Hopefully, we can give them a good run, but I might have to get JJ to give me some tips before the race. I used to do his basketball camps back home when I was a kid, and he was a great coach, so maybe he can give the team a pep talk before we get going.” Is there any relief to not have to race your way into the All-Star Race through the Open this year?“A little. Mostly, I just don’t have to worry about racing my way in while keeping the car in one piece for a second race. But it’s cool to get to know I’m already locked in. The All-Star Race is one of those races you want to have a chance to compete in when you get to the Cup Series but, if you don’t go into it knowing you’ve already got your spot, you know it’s going to be a pretty big task to earn your spot. Everyone wants to be part of it.” The format is so different than what we typically experience on a normal race weekend. Do you do anything different to prepare for it?“Not really. The stages are shorter, so the team will want to make sure we’ve got a good short-run car but, really, you race the same way. Points or not, you want to win. That’s why we do this, so it’s the same mentality we’ve got every race. You want to be the best and win, and if we can find something that works for us, we might be able to take that somewhere else and capitalize on it for another win.” TSC PR |
