Pit Stop Radio News

• The Rackley Roofing 200 marks the first time Spire Motorsports will field a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) entry at Nashville Superspeedway. Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados full time in the NCTS. An all-star driver lineup will rotate throughout the 2024 season in the No. 7 Chevy. Rajah Caruth will drive the No. 71 entry and Chase Purdy rounds out the team’s fleet of Chevrolets in the No. 77.
• The Rackley Roofing 200 from Nashville Superspeedway will be televised live on FS2 Friday, June 28, beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The 13th of 23 NCTS races on the 2024 schedule will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. 

Clint Bowyer – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

• Clint Bowyer will make his first NASCAR start since 2020 behind the wheel of Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Rush Truck Centers Chevrolet Silverado in Friday’s Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.
• The NASCAR on FOX analyst made his second-career NASCAR Xfinity Series start at the Lebanon, Tenn., facility in 2004 and earned his first Xfinity Series’ victory at the track in 2005.
• The Emporia, Kan., native has made nine career starts at Nashville Superspeedway, scoring one victory, nine top-five finishes and boasting an average finish of 2.8.
• The 45-year-old returns to the NCTS for the first time since 2016 where he wheeled the No. 24 GMS Racing entry to a fifth-place finish at his home track, Kansas Speedway.
• The 10-time winner in NASCAR’s premier division has made seven NCTS starts since 2007, scoring two victories and seven top-five finishes, parlaying those efforts into an average finish of 2.4.
• Rush Truck Centers will be the primary sponsor in Bowyer’s return to NASCAR. Rush is the largest network of commercial vehicle dealerships in North America, with more than 150 locations in 22 states and Ontario, Canada. These vehicle centers, strategically located in high traffic areas on or near major highways, represent truck and bus manufacturers, including Peterbilt, International, Hino, Isuzu, Ford, IC Bus and Blue Bird. They offer an integrated approach to meeting customer needs – from sales of new and used vehicles to aftermarket parts, service and body shop operations plus financing, insurance, leasing and rental.
• Bowyer will reconnect with former crew chief Brian Pattie, a pairing that spent four years together at Michael Waltrip Racing from 2012-2015. The two visited victory lane three times in 2012 enroute to a runner-up finish in the NASCAR Cup Series championship point standings.
• After 12 races, the No. 7 team sits fifth in the 2024 NCTS owner point standings. The No. 7 team has compiled two wins with an average starting position of 8.3 and an average finish of 11.3 thus far this season. Kyle Busch led a race-high 33 laps enroute the team’s first victory of 2024 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February and a race-high 112 laps in the team’s most recent triumph in Texas. In its most recent outing, the team started 16th and finished ninth as Andres Perez made his NCTS debut at World Wide Technology Raceway.
• In his first season at Spire Motorsports, crew chief Brian Pattie has led the No. 7 team to two victories across the first 11 events this season, both with Kyle Busch (Atlanta Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway). The duo also won twice across five races last year with Kyle Busch Motorsports.
• Jack Wood finished 30th in Pattie’s lone race calling the shots in Truck Series action at Nashville Superspeedway last June. He was victorious in Xfinity Series competition at the 1.33-mile concrete oval in 2005 with Reed Sorenson in the March event. Three months later, Pattie would lead the No. 41 Dodge to a third-place finish in the series’ second stop at the track, a race won by Bowyer.
• Bowyer will pilot Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-083, marking the first race on the fresh chassis.

Clint Bowyer Quotes
Why did you want to return to the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and make a start with Spire at Nashville?
“For me, it’s the tie working with (Brian) Pattie and the good old days. Putting the band back together, so to speak and having some fun. Nashville is a cool racetrack that has meant a lot to me over the years. Separate from that, it’s about the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. That’s a really fun series. It’s a fun vehicle to drive. There’s a lot of drag and you can drive them hard and get away with it. You hustle a truck pretty hard. This race should be right in my wheelhouse.”
Do you have any expectations for the weekend?
“Expectations are to win. The truck is winning. Put Kyle Busch in it and it wins. It darn well better win with me in it. It’s a good track for me. I’ve won in the Truck Series before. I’ve won with Brian Pattie before. He built me a new truck for it. It’s like, holy smoke! I don’t want pressure in my life anymore. I don’t need pressure, but here it is (laughs)!”
How do you plan on knocking the rust off?
“I’ll have one run on a set of tires to knock the rust off and then I’ll have to go qualify. It’s going to be a pretty important lap to start up front and have a shot at winning. Honestly, I don’t even remember being on that race track it has been so long, so I’ll have to get reacquainted with the track a little bit. I feel like I can get the fundamentals back pretty quick. I ran those SRX races last year and I was pretty quick right off that bat. I actually surprised myself. I had a ton of fun and was competitive.”

Rajah Caruth – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

• Rajah Caruth will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado in Friday’s Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.
• In the series’ last time out, Caruth started 13th and finished 16th at World Wide Technology Raceway.
• HendrickCars.com is the online home for everything Hendrick Automotive Group. Visitors can shop thousands of new or pre-owned vehicles, locate centers for service and collision repair, receive a value to sell or trade their car, chat online with customer service, discover career opportunities, learn more about vehicle protections programs, and explore how the company gives back to the community.
• The Winston-Salem (N.C.) State University senior has one prior start at the 1.33-mile concrete oval, qualifying third and finishing 30th in last year’s event.
• After a then career-best qualifying effort, the Washington, D.C. native led his first lap in a NASCAR national series race after battling in the top-two with former REV Racing teammate, Nick Sanchez, for the first 36 laps. Caruth led the field across the stripe on lap 36, then immediately reported fuel pick-up issues, dropping outside the top 20 the next time around. He would fall 32 laps down as the team addressed the issue.
• The 21-year-old is currently sixth in the NCTS championship point standings after 12 races. He has logged one pole, one win, five top-10 and nine top-15 finishes. He’s recorded a 12.3 average start, an 11.9 average finish and completed 97.2 percent of the laps contested this season.
• With his first career NCTS win and pole position earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Caruth became the third African American driver, alongside NASCAR Hall of Famer, Wendell Scott and current NASCAR Cup Series regular Bubba Wallace, to win a NASCAR National Touring Series race.
• Caruth raced his first full season in NCTS in 2023, earning four top-10 finishes and coming home 16th in the division’s championship point standings.
• Crew chief Chad Walter has collected a pair of top-five finishes at the d-shaped oval in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, finishing fourth in both of the series’ visits to Nashville in 2010 while calling the shots for Justin Allgaier.
• Caruth will wheel Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-007, which has been raced this season in the driver’s first career victory at Las Vegas (March 1), a strong day at Texas (April 12) and qualified inside the top five at Charlotte (May 24).

Rajah Caruth Quotes
Last year at Nashville you were leading when mechanical issues arose. Are you excited to get back to the track and bounce back from last year’s result?
“I’m honestly just excited to get back to Nashville, in general. Last year was the only time I’ve raced there, and it is a cool racetrack and a nice facility. They did a great job with the track preparation and the resin, so we were able to move around and race a bit. I know my truck will be better, and it’s hard to be much better than we were last year. We took the lead and were getting ready to have a really good day before we had that fuel pickup issue. I’m just excited to get back from this three week stretch and press the attack with the playoffs coming up.”
There are four races remaining before the playoffs. What is your primary focus as the regular season comes to a close?
“I think about the short tracks. We go to IRP and Richmond before the playoffs, then Milwaukee, Bristol and Martinsville during the playoffs. These places aren’t weak spots by any means. I know we are a top-three truck at the mile-and-a-halves, and we haven’t quite been there at the short tracks and flatter tracks. Otherwise, I believe we can get back on track and lock in a spot to the Championship Four.”

Chase Purdy – Driver, No.77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

• Chase Purdy will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No.77 Bama Buggies Chevrolet Silverado in Friday night’s Rackley Roofing 200.
• Purdy heads to Nashville Superspeedway 14th in the NCTS driver point standings.
• The 24-year-old started 11th and finished sixth in the series most recent stop at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill.  
• The Meridian, Miss., native has three starts at Nashville Superspeedway and has recorded an average starting position of 17th and an average finishing position of 11th.
• Still searching for his first career win, the Rackley Roofing 200 will mark Purdy’s 88th NCTS start and his 13th behind the wheel of Spire Motorsports’ No.77 Bama Buggies Chevrolet Silverado.
• Mile-and-a-half speedways have been the team’s strong suit in 2024. In seven races, Purdy has earned two of his three top-10 finishes on tracks similar in configuration.
• Purdy will race Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-056, which he competed with once this season at Texas Motor Speedway where he started 15th and finished 25th. The same chassis has been raced 21 times previously and seen the Winner’s Circle twice. John Hunter Nemechek took the checkered flag with this chassis at Pocono Raceway (June 26, 2021) and Kansas Speedway (Sept. 9, 2022).
• During the break, Purdy visited his family in Alabama. He sees the second half of the season as a fresh start and an opportunity to earn a 2024 NCTS playoff berth.
• Purdy’s Crew Chief Jason Trinchere has called two races at Nashville Superspeedway in the NASCAR Xfinity series for Kaulig Racing. In those two starts he had a top-10 finish with Daniel Hemric in 2023.

Chase Purdy Quotes 
You’ve earned a pole and have two top-10 finishes on intermediate tracks this season. How do you feel going to Nashville?
“I’m looking forward to getting back to Nashville. Last year, we had a lot of speed there so we’re looking for more this season. Hopefully, we can build on the speed we found at the last few races and bring back a great finish.”
How do you feel racing on concrete compared to asphalt? 
“Definitely different being that it’s concrete, but it’s really fun to race on once you get multiple lanes rubbered in”

Spire Motorsports PR