Road Course Rebound … Tanner Reif returns to Sonoma Raceway on Friday afternoon looking for a road course rebound after last week’s 14th-place result at Portland International Raceway (PIR). The driver of the No. 16 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet SS had significant pace in the season’s first road course event at PIR, but mechanical woes kept him from earning a strong finish. With previous experience under his belt in Sonoma’s Wine Country, Reif is focused on returning to the top-five and chasing his first road course victory.
Season to Date … With four of the 13 scheduled races complete in the ARCA Menards Series West (AMSW), Reif is positioned sixth in the championship standings, 38 markers behind the lead. The Las Vegas native has captured two top-five finishes thus far, a fifth at Irwindale Speedway and fourth at Kern County Raceway Park. Reif enters his fifth AMSW road course start with two prior top-10 finishes, both of which came at PIR in 2022.
Reinforcements are Back … For the second-consecutive week, Reif will be joined by Eric Johnson Jr. as a teammate in the No. 19 Chevrolet SS. Johnson Jr. made his first AMSW last Friday afternoon at PIR and captured a 10th-place finish. The 20-year-old from Washington has worked as a mechanic and spotter for the BMR teams over the past two seasons while pursuing his own career behind the wheel. Friday’s 64-lap contest marks his debut at Sonoma in AMSW competition and his second start on the tour.
Chassis Selections … Crew chief John Camilleri and the NAPA Auto Care team have prepared chassis No. 90 for Reif to pilot on Friday. Reif raced this Chevrolet SS at PIR last Friday and has been refreshed for its second-consecutive outing. Johnson Jr. will also pilot the same Chevrolet SS that he raced to a 10th-place finish at PIR last week, chassis No. 119.
Tune In … The second and final road course event of the AMSW season will be streamed live on FloRacing (floracing.com) at 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT on Friday. Tape delayed coverage will also air on June 18th at 11:30 a.m. ET on CNBC. Stay connected with the No. 16 NAPA Auto Care team by following @BMR_NASCAR on Twitter, @bmrnascar on Instagram, and Bill McAnally Racing on Facebook.
Tanner Rief Quote:
On the second-straight road course event on the schedule:
“Racing back-to-back weeks at road courses is definitely interesting. These are big races and important points up for grabs. We’re excited to get to Sonoma this week and make up for the mechanical issue we had at Portland last Friday. I felt like we had some good speed in our NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet, so hopefully we can have a smooth day, execute all race long, and be able to race towards the front at the end.”
Eric Johnson Jr. Quote:
On competing for a second-consecutive week:
“This is such a thrill to be in the car for another week and driving for Bill McAnally and everyone at BMR. Portland was a great experience to run competitively and finish inside the top-10. Having a full race under my belt definitely helps and adds to my confidence level going into this weekend. There’s a really strong field of cars entered, so it’ll definitely be important to limit the mistakes on Friday, stay on track, and be consistent throughout the day. If we could put our Chevrolet back in the top-10, that’d be a great accomplishment in back-to-back races.”
McAnally Hilgemann Racing PR
