RCR Event Preview – Homestead-Miami Speedway

Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway … In 68 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Richard Childress Racing has 10 top-five and 26 top-10 finishes. The Welcome, N.C., based team has five second-place finishes at the 1.5-mile speedway: Kevin Harvick (2003 and 2008), Jeff Burton (2009), Ryan Newman (2014) and Tyler Reddick (2021). 

Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway … RCR owns three NASCAR Xfinity Series wins at Homestead-Miami Speedway, highlighted by Tyler Reddick’s championship-clinching victory in 2019. Myatt Snider grabbed his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at the track in 2021.  Jeff Burton rallied from a 30th-place starting position to score the victory in 2007, leading the final 26 laps. Kevin Harvick scored a dominating win in 2003, leading 108 of 203 laps.

Introducing the Carolina Cowboys … Driven by the same passion for performance that guides his race team, Richard Childress’ latest endeavor brings Professional Bull Riding to the Carolinas. The Carolina Cowboys represent Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in the PBR Team Series, an elite new league featuring the world’s top bull riders in games that began in July 2022. The team is operated by Richard Childress Racing with 2018 Daytona 500 Champion Austin Dillon serving as General Manager. 

Catch the Action … The NASCAR Xfinity Series Homestead 300 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway will be televised live on Saturday, October 22, beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET on USA. The race will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. 

Follow Sunday’s Action at Homestead-Miami Speedway … The NASCAR Cup Series Dixie Vodka 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway will be televised live on Sunday, October 23, beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC. The race will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. 

This Week’s Huk Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway… Austin Dillon’s best NASCAR Cup Series finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway is a seventh-place result he earned in the 2020 Fall race. Most recently, he finished 12th at the track in February of 2021. Dillon has four NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, acquiring three top-five finishes, including a best finish of second in 2015 after leading 16 laps. In three NASCAR Truck Series starts, Dillon won the pole in 2010 and earned a best finish of 10th in 2011. Dillon clinched the 2011 NASCAR Truck Series Championship and the 2013 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Racing For The Florida Relief Fund … Huk is teaming up with Richard Childress Racing and Austin Dillon at the Dixie Vodka 400 this Sunday to help support the many Floridians who were recently affected by Hurricane Ian. In an effort to help build back, Huk is donating 10 percent of all online sales through Sunday, October 23 to the Florida Relief Fund, and RCR will also donate 10 percent of the No. 3 Chevrolet’s race winnings. Huk and RCR are debuting a special “Miami Nights” paint scheme this weekend, which pays tribute to the state of Florida.

Welcome, Huk … Huk is the fastest-growing performance clothing brand with an authentic passion for its products. Based in Charleston, S.C., at the confluence of three major rivers and a stone’s throw from the Atlantic Ocean, Huk’s product developers enjoy a dizzying array of waterside opportunities that help shape and mold its purpose-built fishing gear. Huk clothing represents a fresh take and a unique understanding of the waterside lifestyle, offering functional products with wide reaching appeal that resonates with RCR’s fan base. Austin Dillon enjoys wearing Huk clothing during his everyday life. Some of his favorite products include the Icon X Polo, Waypoint Pant and Vented Pursuit Hoodie. For more information, visit www.hukgear.com.

 AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:

What excites you most about Homestead-Miami Speedway?

” We ran well at Homestead-Miami Speedway last year and finished seventh in 2020. It was fun; we had a fast car, so I can’t wait to get there. I think it’s the most driver-friendly track. Actually, it’s not really friendly because you can get into the wall pretty easily, but it’s so much fun to run right up against the fence. You have to be disciplined in how you drive that track and save your tires. It’s an epic race. It’s always intense. My teammate, Tyler Reddick, is solid there and I think that’s pushed our program to another level when it comes to running at Homestead-Miami Speedway. I feel like we’ve learned off of each other the last couple of years.”

This Week’s 3CHI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway …Tyler Reddick will be making his third NASCAR Cup Series start at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend. The driver of the 3CHI Chevrolet has two top-five finishes in two previous NASCAR Cup Series starts at the 1.5-mile track, including a second-place effort in 2021 (average finish is 3.0). Reddick clinched the 2018 and 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series championships with victories at Homestead and finished sixth or better in three NASCAR Truck Series races at the 1.5-mile south Florida speedway.

Las Vegas Rewind … Reddick’s sixth-place finish last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was his 15th top-10 of the 2022 season. Reddick won the pole position at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his first in six starts at the 1.5-mile Nevada speedway, third of the 2022 season, and fourth of his career. He is 11th in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings, 13 points outside of the top-10. 

3CHI Blazed the Trail for Another Industry First … 3CHI and Richard Childress Racing created another first with their partnership for the 2022 NASCAR season. 3CHI began with roots as a CBD producer and quickly became a pioneer in science-based hemp and cannabis innovation. The company was the first to commercially develop and market Delta 8 THC, and today, 3CHI is an industry leader with unsurpassed product quality and purity as verified by top independent labs and benchmark organizations. 3CHI products are sold in a majority of the United States, and the company produces and markets a variety of gummies, tinctures, lotions, edibles and vape products. All 3CHI products meet federal requirements for full legal compliance, with a commitment to promoting responsible adult use. See 3CHI.com for more information.

TYLER REDDICK QUOTE:

How was your recent test at Homestead-Miami Speedway? 

“I never touched the wall but I ran up against it just about as much as anybody else. I loved that we got to test there. Everyone figured out after about three or four laps the top was the place to be. I was watching 10 or 12 drivers that were running and everyone was getting better at running the fence. The drivers who tested there will be really good at running up top when we go back and I’m going to have my work cut out for me, that’s for sure. This Next Gen car is wider than the old car so I felt like I couldn’t get those last couple of inches to the wall so I learned about that a little bit. I never tagged the wall. We were getting ready to have our last long run of the day. We were going to run about 40 laps and we had rain wash out the remainder of our day. I got to learn a lot about the car and what it drove like. We got some decent long run speed but a lot of those other drivers and teams have done their homework well. It’s going to be a tough race this weekend.” 

This Week’s Whelen Aerospace Technologies Chevrolet Camaro SS at Homestead-Miami Speedway … Sheldon Creed will make his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend. Creed has three NASCAR Truck Series starts at the 1.5-mile south Florida speedway. He scored two top-10 finishes, highlighted by a fifth-place finish in 2019. The driver of the Whelen Aerospace Technologies Chevrolet enters Homestead 14th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driver standings with three top-five and 11 top-10 finishes.    

Whelen Aerospace Technologies … Whelen Aerospace Technologies is the global leader in high-end lighting products for the aerospace industry. Our experienced staff designs, engineers, and manufactures high-quality products that provide safety, visibility, and recognition for aircraft across all platforms. Our design engineers work closely with OEM and service provider networks to design high-performance products that enhance the pilot experience, as well as provide safety of flight. As an FAA-approved production holder, Whelen Aerospace Technologies owns hundreds of STCs for aircraft landing, taxi, anti-collision and position lights. Our in-house composite shop produces a wide variety of STC and PMA approved speed modifications for a number of general aviation aircraft. Our expansive product line is sure to provide a solution for pilots and owners alike, based on their individual needs.

About Whelen … Whelen Engineering is a family-owned company with a pioneering spirit and a passion to protect the lives of those who protect and serve others. The company mission is to provide industry-defining safety solutions around the world, while creating a community of problem-solvers who are inspired to push boundaries and continue our legacy of delivering ground-breaking innovation. As a global leader in the emergency warning industry, Whelen has been trusted to perform since 1952, when George Whelen III invented the first rotating aviation beacon. Whelen now encompasses two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Connecticut and New Hampshire with over 750,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing space and the largest design staff in the industry. Every part of every Whelen product is proudly designed and manufactured in America. We embrace quality as our foundation, we celebrate innovative engineering in every product we produce.

SHELDON CREED QUOTES:

What are your thoughts on Homestead-Miami Speedway?

“Homestead is definitely a place that I like. I haven’t been there since 2020 in the Truck so that might hurt me a little bit early in practice, just not seeing it in over a year. I think it’s a lot like Darlington for me where it wears out tires fast and you have to take care of them. You can run all over the track but mainly you can run right against the fence, which I like to do. I think Homestead will be a good track for us. We’ve been working on some SIM stuff and I felt like we were pretty good in there. Hopefully it will be like Darlington for us and we can run well this weekend.”

How important is to run well in these three remaining races in the season?

“I think it’s extremely important. If we can run in the top three in these last three races and have a chance at winning one of them it will set the tone for the offseason. I think that will be a great confidence boost for myself and the team.”

This Week’s United Rentals Chevrolet Camaro SS at Homestead-Miami Speedway … Austin Hill is making his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Hill has one win at Homestead in the NASCAR Truck Series (2019) along with two top-10 finishes. He scored a dominating victory in 2019, leading the most laps (56 of 134) with an average running position of 2.81.

Las Vegas Rewind … Hill scored a sixth-place finish last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his 18th top-10 of the season. The driver of the United Rentals Chevrolet enters Homestead-Miami Speedway with 11 top-10 finishes in 15 superspeedway races this season. He is fifth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers standings, four points below the fourth-place cutline.      

About United Rentals … United Rentals, Inc. is the largest equipment rental company in the world. The company has an integrated network of 1,278 rental locations in North America, 11 in Europe, 28 in Australia and 18 in New Zealand. In North America, the company operates in 49 states and every Canadian province. The company’s approximately 20,100 employees serve construction and industrial customers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners, and others. The company offers approximately 4,300 classes of equipment for rent with a total original cost of $15.72 billion. United Rentals is a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, the Barron’s 400 Index and the Russell 3000 Index® and is headquartered in Stamford, Conn. Additional information about United Rentals is available at www.unitedrentals.com.

AUSTIN HILL QUOTES:

How different do you think it will be to run in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway compared to the NASCAR Truck Series?

“The biggest difference that I’m going to notice from the NASCAR Truck Series to the NASCAR Xfinity Series is I actually ran the bottom quite a bit in the trucks. We were really fast and able to wrap the bottom really well and I never ran close to the wall. I think with the Xfinity car you’re going to see a lot more right up against the wall, which will be opposite of how I drove a Truck there. I’m going to have to trust myself to run against the fence.” 

Is tire wear becoming a bigger factor in the races at Homestead-Miami Speedway?

“Every year that you race at Homestead it seems that way. If your tires were bad after 10 laps last year, this year they’ll probably be bad after five laps. You’re not going to get much use out of them and after 20 laps or so you’re going to be screaming on the radio wanting some more tires. It’s something you’re definitely going to have to manage. You’re going to have to figure out how hard to drive on the front end of a run to be good on the back end of a run. But you don’t want to lose ground to the leaders. It’s a tough balance to figure out where you need to be and how far you can push the limit.”