Pit Stop Radio News

• In eight NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) starts on the ROVAL at Charlotte Motor Speedway (CMS), Spire Motorsports has logged one top-15 and two top-20 finishes with six different drivers. Corey LaJoie earned a team-best 12th-place finish in 2022 Bank of America ROVAL 400. The Mooresville, N.C., team fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the NCS with Justin Haley, Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar, respectively.
• The Bank of America ROVAL 400 from Charlotte Motor Speedway will be televised live on NBC Sunday, Oct. 13 beginning at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The 32nd of 36 races on the 2024 NCS schedule will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Countdown to Green on NBC will take the green flag at 2 p.m. EDT.

Justin Haley – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Justin Haley will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Mattress Warehouse Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.
• In three previous Cup Series starts on the ROVAL at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Haley has earned one top-five finish. He finished fifth in the division’s 2022 fall visit to the suburban-Charlotte venue. In NASCAR Xfinity Series competition, the 25-year-old racer has also logged three starts on Charlotte’s 2.28-mile road course configuration and notched a series/venue best fourth-place finish in 2021.
• Spire Motorsports will host its second fan day of 2024, Friday, Oct. 11, when the team will open its doors prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America ROVAL 400 weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Following the conclusion of the 2023 season, Spire Motorsports relocated from Concord, N.C., to a 77,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility in Mooresville. Events will run from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., and feature a Ferris wheel, carnival games, food trucks, show cars, raffles, and music from DJ James Stanley. Spire Motorsports’ team retail store will open at 9 a.m. where race fans can purchase team merchandise, diecasts, body panels and race-used team gear. The team’s NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series drivers will be available for autographs from 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The first 77 fans in attendance can paint a pumpkin and qualify for special prizes. Giveaways include t-shirts, hats, and gift cards from Chili’s Grill & Bar, as well as tastings from Katz Coffee products. Spire Motorsports is located at 351 Mazeppa Road, Mooresville, NC 28115.
• Serving customers for 35 years, the Mattress Warehouse mission is clear: Improving lives through quality sleep. This is achieved by combining cutting edge technology with the expertise of highly trained sleep professionals, ensuring that every guest finds the perfect fit for their needs. With a commitment to offering the widest assortment of quality brands at unbeatable prices, Mattress Warehouse guests can rest assured that they’ve made a wise investment in their health and well-being.
• MOLECULE engineers cutting-edge sleep solutions that support active lifestyles with deep sleep recovery. Team MOLECULE includes renowned sleep doctors and neurologists, who possess decades of research and experience to help guide development of mattresses, toppers and pillows. Elite athletes like Michael Phelps trust MOLECULE to help them achieve peak performance.
• The veteran racer has collected four NASCAR Xfinity Series checkered flags and three NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series wins, making him one of just 41 drivers in history to have earned victories across all three of NASCAR’s National Touring Series.
• The 25-year-old is a veteran of 139 Cup Series starts and has notched one win, five top fives, 16 top 10s and led 102 laps in NASCAR’s premier division.
• Last weekend, Haley started 35th and finished seventh in the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. The spirited effort marked the No. 7 team’s fourth top-10 finish of the 2024 campaign.
• In total, Haley has made 37 Cup Series starts for Spire Motorsports, with the bulk of races coming during the 2021 season behind the wheel of the team’s No. 77 machine.
• Haley has signed a multi-year agreement with Spire Motorsports and will pursue NASCAR Cup Series championship honors behind the wheel of the No. 7 Chevy in 2025. 
• Haley recorded top 10s at Darlington Raceway (May), Worldwide Technology Raceway (June) and Talladega Superspeedway (Oct.) this season. He has paced the field for 29 laps and completed 99.3 percent of the laps contested in 2024. 
•  Haley, a native of Winamac, Ind., made his Cup Series debut for Spire Motorsports on April 28, 2019 at Talladega Superspeedway on his 20th birthday. He picked up both his and the team’s first win – an upset of practically unprecedented proportions – less than three months later in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway behind the wheel of the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro.

Justin Haley Quotes 
Spire has had success at the road courses this season. How do you feel jumping in and running your first road course race in your return to the team?
“We feel good heading into the ROVAL. I get excited because I love road courses and it is a lot of fun to race at them. The Spire cars had a lot of speed at Watkins Glen with all three cars finishing in the top 10, so I’m curious to see where we end up this weekend. I feel like the road course stuff is really good and the team is confident about it. I have a road course background myself, and have ran well at the ROVAL throughout my career. We will see how the new configuration mixes things up. The new re-entrance to the oval should open a new passing zone and make for some physical racing. There’s nothing as special as the Charlotte ROVAL.”

You’ve collected great runs at road courses in your career. Why has road racing come so natural to you?
“I grew up Trans Am racing. I was kind of the first to do the NASCAR-Trans Am crossover, and now it is a huge steppingstone for guys like Connor Mosack and Connor Zilisch. I did a bunch of sports car racing when I was younger. I won at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in the Truck Series. I always ran well at the road courses in Xfinity and I have a pair of top fives in the Cup Series at Chicago and the ROVAL. I’ve always been comfortable at those kinds of places.”

Zane Smith – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Sunday will mark Zane Smith’s fourth NASCAR Cup Series start at Charlotte Motor Speedway but only his second start at the Charlotte ROVAL, a 2.28-mile racetrack that is combination of the speedway’s infield road course and 1.5-mile oval.
• Last year, Smith made his first Cup Series start at the ROVAL in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports entry where he started 34th and finished 30th.
• Smith has posted four top 20s this season on road courses, including his highest finishing position of fifth at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International in September.
• Last weekend at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Smith started 37th and, after sustaining damage to his Chevrolet in a massive wreck with four laps remaining, went on to finish 21st.
• Smith will sport the Ambetter Health livery on his No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Ambetter Health is on a mission to get everyone affordable, high-quality health insurance. Our drive to break down barriers and help make insurance more accessible to all has made us America’s #1 Marketplace health insurance. Learn more about how we are paving the way to better coverage at ambetterhealth.com.
• Fans can see Smith at the Trackside Live Stage in the Charlotte Motor Speedway Fan Zone on Sunday at 11 a.m. local time.

Zane Smith Quotes
Are you looking forward to the Charlotte Roval this weekend? 
“Yes, I really am. I enjoy racing road courses, and I know this isn’t a typical road course but it’s still a pretty fun track. My Spire Motorsports team has had solid runs on road courses this season and I’m confident heading into this weekend. Excited to see how my Ambetter Health Chevrolet stacks up with the rest of the field on Sunday.”

Carson Hocevar – Driver, No.77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Carson Hocevar will pilot the No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports in Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
• In last week’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Hocevar rolled off 37th and opted to remain at the tail of the field in hopes to avoid ‘The Big One.’ When the 28-car incident set off with four laps remaining, he received minimal contact that caused a broken toe link. Heads up work by the No. 77 team got the toe link replaced without falling a lap down. He went on to finish the event 14th.
• Delaware Life Insurance Company (“Delaware Life”) has made its mission to deliver pure value to its network of financial professionals with a set of tools and products that help them empower their clients to plan for retirement with confidence. Delaware Life’s focus is delivering a seamless experience that gives clients exactly what they’re looking for: the comfort of understanding, the confidence of transparency, and streamlined products without needless features. Learn more at www.delawarelife.com
• Hocevar will make his first Cup Series start on Charlotte’s ROVAL.
• Last time out on a road course, the Portage, Mich., native earned a career-best third-place finish at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International. In four road course events in 2024, he’s averaged a starting position of 18.25 and an average finish of 16.5.
• The youngest NCS driver in the field ranks 21st in the division’s championship point standings, leading the Sunoco Rookie of The Year standings by 88 points. Over the course of the season’s first 31 races, he’s notched one top-five, five top-10 and 10 top-15 finishes.
• Crew chief Luke Lambert called Noah Gragson’s third-place effort in the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series event at the Charlotte ROVAL.
• Tune in to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 every Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. ET to hear Hocevar discuss his rookie campaign with host Dave Moody. 

Carson Hocevar Quotes
You earned a career-best finish last time at a road course, and you will be making your first start at the Roval this weekend. How do you expect your day to go?
“I didn’t think we were going to run as good as we have on the road courses this year. Luke (Lambert) and everyone at Spire has put a lot of emphasis on the road course package. I think we can run really good. Not only did the No. 77 team run well at Watkins Glen, but the company got all three cars in the top 10. We have a little bit of a question mark since I’ve never been to the Roval, but we look to replicate the speed we had at Watkins Glen.”

How does the change in the layout of the course help you in your first start on the Roval?
“The reconfiguration and layout change has taken a little bit away from the guys who have experience there. It allows us to approach it with an open mind and no preconceived notion on how the track should be. On the flip side, the guys who have run there before have a couple major areas of the track in which they have to change their approach. Hopefully it takes them a little bit to forget the old and figure out the new while I am catching up on the other areas of the track!”

Spire Motorsports PR