Talladega Superspeedway marks the “homecoming” race for Chase Purdy, as the world’s largest speedway sits less than three hours from his hometown of Meridian, Miss. Purdy has made two previous starts at Talladega and tallied a ninth-place finish last season after leading four laps. The always unpredictable 2.66-mile tri oval has offered many drivers career breakthrough moments in its 53-year history, and Purdy looks to take advantage of Talladega’s volatile nature to add to his career-best season in his 50th career start on Saturday.
Hotty Toddy! … Saturday’s 250-miler showcases a dream partnership for Purdy, who is a former Ole Miss student. He is proudly flying the power and navy blue colors of his alma mater in advance of the Rebel’s highly-anticipated homecoming football matchup at Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss on Saturday. Purdy attended school at Ole Miss before restarting his racing career in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2020. On Wednesday afternoon, Purdy returned to the Ole Miss campus to display the No. 61 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro inside “The Vaught” and met with Rebels players, head coach Lane Kiffin, and fans.
Season to Date … Through 20 events this season, Purdy remains 16th in the drivers’ championship standings and has recorded a career-high average finish thus far (18.3) and has collected 11 top-15 finishes.
Chassis Selection … Crew chief Matt Lucas and the No. 61 team have prepared chassis No. 016. This Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was built new for 2022 and is purpose built for superspeedways. Chassis No. 016 will see its first green flag on Saturday at Talladega.
Tune In … FOX Sports 1 will carry live coverage from the world’s biggest speedway on Saturday with NASCAR Raceday at 12:00 p.m. ET followed by the green flag at 12:30 p.m. ET. Stay connected with the No. 61 HRE team by following @Hattori_Racing on Twitter, @hattoriracing on Instagram, and Hattori Racing Enterprises on Facebook.
Chase Purdy Quote:
On his homecoming at Talladega with Ole Miss:
“This is such a cool intersection for me to have Ole Miss on our Toyota Tundra TRD Pro and race it at the track closest to my hometown. We had a great time on campus earlier this week with taking the truck to Vaught Hemingway Stadium and seeing so many people at Ole Miss, including coach Kiffin. That was really cool to see so many people excited for the race this weekend. Hopefully we can deliver a good run for them and Talladega is a place that can be a huge opportunity for anyone in the field. We feel good about the speed we’ll have in our Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to be in the mix. We just need to manage our afternoon the right way and just make it to the end to have a shot at it.”
HRE PR
