Information By: LEIGHTON SIBILLE / NIECE MOTORSPORTS – SALISBURY, NC
NIECE MOTORSPORTS
NCTS RACE ADVANCE: WWT RACEWAY
Race: Toyota 200 (160 laps / 200 miles) | Race 12 of 23
Track: World Wide Technology Raceway
Location: Madison, Illinois
Date & Time: Saturday, June 1st | 12:30 PM ET
Tune-In: FOX | Motor Racing Network (MRN) | Sirius XM Ch. 90
No. 41 DQS Solutions & Staffing Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Bayley Currey | Crew Chief: Mike Hillman, Jr.
– Currey’s Gateway Stats: Bayley Currey has made one prior start at WWT Raceway which came in last year’s Truck Series event. Currey qualified 11th for that race and finished 17th after a late-race spin.
– Hillman’s Gateway Stats: Mike Hillman, Jr. has called 13 NCTS races at Gateway before, posting a total of four top-fives and nine top-10 finishes. Hillman has scored one victory here with Germain Racing’s Todd Bodine in 2006, and most recently finished 17th with Currey last year.
– On the Truck: Currey’s No. 41 Chevrolet Silverado RST will race with support from DQS Solutions & Staffing along with Masked Owl Technologies. Gateway will be the first race for both of these partners as co-primary sponsors this season. DQS is the parent company of Foundation for Pops, which was on Currey’s truck last race in Charlotte.
– Recapping Charlotte: Bayley Currey and the No. 41 team fired off well after securing a top-10 starting position in Charlotte. Currey would hold his track position through stage one where he finished 11th, but dropped to 17th in stage two following an unscheduled return to pit road. In the final stage, Currey sustained heavy damage when a competitor blew a tire directly in front of the No. 41 Foundation for Pops Chevrolet, hindering his competitiveness. He finished the race in the 26th position.
– Points Rundown: Following Currey’s 26th-place result in Charlotte, he dropped one position in points, now shown in 16th. He is 20 points behind his nearest competitor, Chase Purdy, in 15th place, and 75 points below the Playoffs cutline.
– Quoting Currey: Do you use shifting to your advantage here as an offensive or defensive move?
“I think shifting is just something that you have to do here, really. You slow down so much in turns one and two that you can use that option. Depending on where you downshift, you can change the balance of what your truck’s doing. If you’re tight, you can downshift earlier to get the rotation through the center. If you’re on a long run like how we had last year, you can shift in turns three and four as well. It’s a good tool for the drivers to use.”
– Quoting Hillman: With how much clean air means at Gateway, could we see any two-tire stops throughout the race?
“I think Gateway is a place that gives you the option to short pit or get off-sequence. Two-tire stops might have to be an option to consider, and looking at how some of the past races have been won here, I’d say it’s not a bad option at all. We’ll just have to look at where we’re running throughout the day and see if that is a risk worth taking for us. We need to make up some points, so it’ll be something to pay attention to and see what strategy option works best for us.” DQS Solutions & Staffing Mission Statement: The core mission of DQS Solutions & Staffing is to attain unparalleled excellence in our specialized domains, specifically staffing and security. Simultaneously, we maintain the flexibility required to collaborate closely with our clients in the creation of innovative products and services within the framework of DQS.
No. 42 J.F. Electric / Utilitra Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Matt Mills | Crew Chief: Jon Leonard
– Mills’ Gateway Stats: Matt Mills has made one prior start at WWT Raceway which came in last year’s Truck Series event. Mills qualified 29th, and made up 10 spots to finish 19th in the race.
– Leonard’s Gateway Stats: Jon Leonard has made a pair of starts on top of the box at Gateway before, both of which came while working with Stewart Friesen. In both races (2021 and 2022), Friesen brought his truck home with a fourth-place finish.
– On the Truck: Mills’ No. 42 Chevrolet Silverado RST will race with support from longtime partners J.F. Electric and Utilitra.
– J.F. Electric’s Home Race: Mills’ primary sponsor, J.F. Electric, calls the St. Louis region its home base. Located just over 15 minutes from the racetrack in Edwardsville, IL, J.F. Electric will host a large contingent of its employees at the race on Saturday. On Thursday, Mills will visit the company’s headquarters for an employee day showcasing the the No. 42 race hauler.
– Welcoming New Partners: The bedtop of Mills’ No. 42 truck this week will feature two new partners that are local to WWT Raceway. Moussalli’s Prime, a well-known steakhouse in Edwardsville, IL, will be branded alongside Lux Nova Laser Studio, a beauty salon also located in Edwardsville.
– Mills Secures Best-Career Finish at Charlotte: Matt Mills and the No. 42 team put forth a great effort in Charlotte. Mills started the race from 15th, and quietly finished in 18th position at the conclusion of stage one and two. The team came alive late in the going of stage three, and following a late-race pitstop, Mills rocketed into the top-five. Where he initially crossed the line fifth, a disqualification was made through tech inspection. Mills would later be classified in the fourth position, which is his best-career finish in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.
– Points Rundown: With Mills’ fourth-place finish at Charlotte, he continued his four-race streak of gaining one spot in the points standings. Entering the 12th race of the season, Mills sits in 24th position, seven points behind Mason Massey in 23rd. He is currently 27 points behind Ty Dillon which would break him into the top-20.
– Quoting Mills: With it being a home race for your sponsors, how much emphasis do you put on running well at Gateway specifically?
“Gateway is definitely a big race for us. J.F. Electric is on our truck all year, but this is a race that they go all-out with on the hospitality aspect. All the men and women that are their employees really want to see their truck run well in their backyard, so we’ve been putting a lot of time in the sim to prepare for it. For us, it’s one of the biggest races of the year.”
– Quoting Leonard: What makes Gateway such a difficult track to set your truck up for?
“I like to think of this track as being pretty similar to Darlington in that both ends are so different, but there’s not as much tire falloff here. You can shift, but you don’t have to. It’s a big flat track, and a big short track. I think getting the truck to turn on the flat end will be important. I think our short track package is pretty good, so we’ll stick to that and roll with it.”
About J.F. Electric: J.F. Electric is an electrical contractor that provides engineering expertise, backed by construction and installation know-how in a diverse range of service offerings, from utilities and commercial projects, to industrial and telecommunications customers. When having a long family history in an industry, a company not only builds on its knowledge and experience, it takes pride in cultivating a solid understanding of client needs, all the while nurturing strong relationships with its employees. Evolving through five generations of the Fowler family, J.F. Electric has matured into a well-managed and thoughtfully diversified electrical contractor which is poised to continue its growth and expansion into the future.
About Utilitra: Utilitra is a woman-owned firm specializing in utility and technology solutions with a diverse team of specialized professionals. Utilitra is committed to solving their client’s unique challenges, whether one expert or a team of experts is needed. By adapting to the needs of their respective industries, Utilitra has built a range of services for their utility and technology partners.
No. 45 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Connor Mosack | Crew Chief: Phil Gould
– Mosack Returns: Rookie Connor Mosack returns to Niece Motorsports for the second start of his part-time schedule in the No. 45 Chevrolet. Mosack last drove for the team at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he finished in 19th. He has also spent time driving for Spire Motorsports in the No. 7 Silverado RST, and plans to make sporadic NASCAR Xfinity Series starts for JR Motorsports later this year. The driver from Charlotte, NC has made a handful of ARCA Menards Series starts this season for Pinnacle Racing Group and recently secured his second-career victory at Kansas Speedway. He competes full-time in the Trans Am National Championship for Silver Hare Racing.
– Mosack’s Gateway Stats: Connor Mosack will make his first NASCAR Truck Series start at WWT Raceway on Saturday. Though this will be his first start on the oval, Mosack has raced before on Gateway’s road course layout. Three weeks ago, Mosack finished sixth in the Trans Am TA2 event held on the 2.0-mile course.
– Gould’s Gateway Stats: Phil Gould has called five NASCAR Truck Series races at WWT Raceway, resulting in four top-10 finishes. In 2019, Gould navigated Ross Chastain to victory lane at the 1.25-mile track, marking Niece Motorsports’ second NCTS win. Last season, while working with Carson Hocevar, Gould’s No. 42 team finished in fourth position here.
– On the Truck: Mosack’s No. 45 Chevrolet Silverado RST will race with support from Chevy Accessories. Visit chevy.com/accessories to browse the latest accessories to personalize and enhance your vehicle.
– Recapping Charlotte: Kaden Honeycutt and the No. 45 team experienced a roller coaster-like eventful day at Charlotte. In practice, Honeycutt damaged the right side of his truck after contact with another competitor. The crew repaired the truck well enough to qualify in the top-10, and after starting ninth, he began to march to the front. Honeycutt would make it up to second at the end of stage one (later credited with the win), and backed up the performance with a fourth-place run in stage two. Issues on pit road forced Honeycutt to the rear of the field on two occasions, but he was able to rally back to a seventh-place finish.
– Mosack’s Best-Career Finish: While driving for Spire Motorsports at Charlotte last week, Mosack earned his best-career finish in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series with an eighth-place run. The result was his first top-10 in just his fifth start in the series.
– Owner Points Outlook: Honeycutt’s strong outing in Charlotte resulted in two positions gained for the No. 45 team in the owner points standings. The team currently sits seventh, seven points behind TRICON Garage’s No. 17 team. With Chastain’s win in Darlington, the truck is locked into the owner points Playoffs.
– Quoting Mosack: What are some of the benefits and challenges of racing for two different teams in the Truck Series?
“I think the challenges come from the fact that once you’re getting into the rhythm of how one team operates, that stops, and you have to give yourself a restart with the other team. You feel like you still have the momentum in the series with the trucks, but each team does things a little differently. The communication changes and some of the small details make a difference. I think full-time drivers have the advantage of gaining speed by keeping in that rhythm with everybody. The crew chief knows exactly what they’re asking for and vise-versa. Some of the benefits are learning what each team does that the other team doesn’t do. You can apply the differences whether that be through prep or debrief after the race, so there’s definitely some benefits as well.”
– Quoting Gould: How difficult is it to rotate through different drivers on a weekly basis in the No. 45 truck?
“It’s hard, but it’s probably harder on the drivers since our team is racing every week, no matter who’s driving. We have a bit of a unique situation on the No. 45 team with having these drivers hop in-and-out of the truck and the series as a whole. So from that aspect, it’s harder on them to get up-to-speed if they’re not used to driving the truck every week. I’ve gotten used to all of them now, but it’s all about finding out their personalities and what suits them best so we can give them the most comfortable feel out there.”