LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Race Preview: Martinsville Speedway

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Race Information

– Round: NASCAR Cup Series race No. 9 of 36

– Track Location: Martinsville Speedway- Martinsville, Virginia

– Race Name: NOCO 400

– Broadcast: Sunday, April 16th at 3:00 PM ET live on FS1 (TV), MRN (Radio) Sirius XM NASCAR Ch. 90

– Team Entrants:

  • No. 42 | Noah Gragson & Luke Lambert – Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro Zl1
  • No. 43 | Erik Jones & Dave Elenz – Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1Suns
 

Noah Gragson, No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
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Martinsville Speedway Stats

– NCS Starts: 1 Best start: 17th; Best finish: 25th

NASCAR Xfinity Series Stats

– Starts: 5; Best start: 2nd; Best finish: 1st (Fall, 2021); Top Fives: 4 Top 10s: 4

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Stats

– Starts: 4; Best start: 3rd; Best finish: 1st (2017); Top Fives: 3; Top 10s: 4

2023 NCS Season Stats

– Starts: 8; Best start: 10th; Best finish: 12th (Atlanta); Laps led: 1; Current points position: 30th
 

– About Sunseeker Resorts: Opening in 2023, Florida’s newest luxury resort located in Charlotte Harbor is the first resort property of Sunseeker Resorts, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allegiant Travel Company. Sunseeker Resort Charlotte Harbor occupies over 22 waterfront acres with 785 guest rooms, including 189 Signature Sunsuites™. Set upon the Peace River and Florida Gulf Coast, this premier resort offers 20 original food and beverage concepts; including seven stand-alone restaurants, eleven bars and lounges, two poolside offerings and a 25,000-square-foot multi-dining experience. Additional hotel amenities include a waterfront promenade, two unique rooftop and waterfront pool experiences, 60,000-square-feet of combined convention space, full-service spa and salon, a 7,100-square-foot state-of-the-art fitness center with four group exercise studios with specialty instructor lead classes, three retail and market shops, and an 18-hole championship level golf club exclusive to hotel guests only. The resort is conveniently located within a short drive of Punta Gorda, Fort Myers, Sarasota, St. Petersburg-Clearwater, and Tampa airports. For more information, visit www.sunseekerresorts.com. Follow on Instagram: @sunseekerresorts and like us on Facebook: @sunseekerresorts.

– Clocking in: Noah Gragson scored his first ever NASCAR series win on Oct. 28,2017 at Martinsville Speedway. Racing for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Gragson passed two-time series champion Matt Crafton on a restart with 10 laps to go for his first career victory. The win for Gragson – who was only 18 years-old – came in his 22nd career start.

-Closest finish ever – Last fall, Gragson let 153 of 257 laps and edged out competitor Daniel Hemric at the finish line by .064 seconds for the closest Xfinity Series finish ever at Martinsville Speedway. The dramatic overtime win was Gragson’s eighth victory of the 2022 season.

-See Noah- Fans at Martinsville Speedway on raceday will have the opportunity to see Gragson at the Team Chevy Stage in the Martinsville Speedway fan zone. He will participate in a question and answer session at 11:50 a.m. Sunday, April 16.

– From the Driver’s Seat:  “I am really excited for Martinsville, I had the opportunity to drive there in the 48-car last year, so going in with an idea in mind of what it is going to be like is a big learning opportunity from last year. I am excited to get the chance to battle with the No. 42 Sunseeker team this weekend, Martinsville has always been a good track for us. I’ve won Martinsville in Trucks and Xfinity, so I am excited for it.” 
 

riErik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
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Martinsville Speedway Stats

– NCS Starts: 12; Best start: 8th (Fall, 2019) Best finish: 8th (Fall, 2021); Top 10s: 1

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Stats

– Starts: 5; Best finish: 3rd (2015); Top 5s: 2; Top 10s: 4; Laps led: 2

2023 NCS Season Stats

– Starts: 8; Best start: 8th; Best finish: 8th (Atlanta); Top 10s: 1, Laps led: 14, Current points position: 26th
 

-About Allegiant: Las Vegas-based Allegiant (NASDAQ: ALGT) is an integrated travel company with an airline at its heart, focused on connecting customers with the people, places and experiences that matter most. Since 1999, Allegiant Air has linked travelers in small-to-medium cities to world-class vacation destinations with all-nonstop flights and industry-low average fares. Today, Allegiant’s fleet serves communities across the nation, with base airfares less than half the cost of the average domestic roundtrip ticket. For more information, visit us at Allegiant.com.

-Leaving Bristol in the dirt – Erik Jones and the No. 43 team’s weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway was anything but clean. The dirt proved challenging as Jones recovered from a spin, a flat tire and powered back from three laps down to avoid the chaos and finish 14th. Jones and the team were very happy with their recovery and finish.

– Where it all started – A very young Jones made his first NASCAR national series debut at Martinsville Speedway on April 6, 2013, driving the No. 51 truck for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Jones was just 16 years old that day, starting the .5-mile paperclip-shaped track from the 19th position and finishing ninth. Running a limited schedule of five races for KBM that year, Jones proved to be a quick study and found victory lane in just his fifth start.

– From the Driver’s Seat: “I am excited about Martinsville, last year in the fall I felt like we ran pretty well, so hopefully we can take some of that momentum and learn a little bit about the short track package and what we had in Richmond to try and make it a little bit better. I am ready to get out there, hoping for another solid run, hopefully get up in the top 10 and contend.” 

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