Spire Motorsports NCTS Mission 176 at The Glen Race Advance

• Kyle Busch will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 07 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado in Friday’s Mission 176 at Watkins Glen International.
• While the 40-year-old has yet to make a CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start at the famed circuit, he has made three series appearances on road courses, tallying one win, three top fives, 88 laps led in 163 laps contested (53.98 percent), while earning a 2.0 average finish. Aside from snagging third- and second-place finishes at Circuit of the Americas in 2022 and 2023, respectively, Busch secured the win in the division’s 2022 visit to Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway. Busch led 45 of the event’s 75 laps en route to the win. He took over the top spot for the final time on Lap 65 and survived multiple late race restarts to clinch his antepenultimate victory at Kyle Busch Motorsports.
• One of the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ all-time winningest driver’s 102 checkered flags came at “The Glen.” Busch bested an all-star of 10 current full-time Cup Series drivers to win the 2017 event at Watkins Glen, leading 43 laps in the process. In addition to the victory, the 2010 Xfinity Series champion collected six top fives, seven top 10s, 155 laps led and an average starting position of 5.3 in 12 series appearances at the venue.
• The two-time Cup Series champion owns a pair of Watkins Glen wins in NASCAR’s premier series. In both 2008 and 2013, Busch staved off road course aces Marcos Ambrose and Juan Pablo Montoya to reach Victory Lane. In 19 Cup appearances at the seven-turn, 2.45-mile course, he has accrued two poles, two wins, seven top fives, 13 top 10s, 249 laps led and an 11.7 average finish.
• Busch has won across all three of NASCAR’s national series at 17 different tracks and looks to add Watkins Glen to the list with a win on Friday. He is one of three drivers to accomplish the feat at four or more venues, including Kevin Harvick (seven) and 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Mark Martin (four).
• The Las Vegas native holds the record for most CRAFTSMAN Truck Series wins (67) and lowest average finish in series history (6.5), while ranking second on the series’ all-time laps led list (8,130).
• In his past 15 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series appearances, Busch has finished first or second nine times, six of which resulted in trips to Victory Lane.
• Founded in 2018, Gainbridge® is an insurtech subsidiary of Group 1001 that empowers consumers to take control of their financial future with solutions that are accessible to everyone, no matter their budget or financial knowledge. Its platform provides access to financial products that are simple, intuitive, and backed by smart technology with no complexity or hidden fees. Gainbridge® is headquartered in Zionsville, Ind. For more information, visit http://www.gainbridge.io or follow and connect with Gainbridge on X and LinkedIn.
• Earlier this season, Busch defended his 2024 victory in the Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, spending all 135 laps in the top 15, leading a race-high 80 laps and recording both a field-leading average running position (3.2) and driver rating (124.6).
• Busch has made nine CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts for Spire Motorsports over the past two seasons and collected three wins, five top fives and six top 10s while pacing the field for 343 circuits.
• “Rowdy” will race Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-076 this weekend. The truck saw action last month at Lime Rock Park with Thomas Annunziata at the wheel. Chase Purdy owns the prior three starts in the truck, including a chassis-best 13th-place result a Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2023.

Kyle Busch Quote
What are your thoughts heading into your final CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race of the season?
“Appreciate everyone at Spire allowing me to compete in the Truck Series again this year and looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the Gainbridge Chevy for the final time this weekend. I’ve only raced on a road course in trucks a few times and this will be my first time in a truck at Watkins Glen. You never know how the schedule falls each year with the trucks and which races I’m able to compete in and even which tracks are on the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series schedule, so it’d be cool to go out and add another track to the list where I’ve won in all three series across my career while I have the chance.”

• Allen Hart leads Spire Motorsports’ No. 07 team, an entry that has seen a rotating roster of drivers throughout the 2025 campaign.
• As a race engineer at JR Motorsports, Hart played a key role in Justin Allgaier’s four consecutive (2017-2021) NASCAR Xfinity Series top fives at Watkins Glen.
• Last time out at Indianapolis Raceway Park, the team and driver Brenden “Butterbean” Queen finished 16th.
• The 43-year-old earned his first career win in a crew chief role in March’s Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. After a spin midway through the Final Stage, Kyle Larson made an impressive run through the field over the event’s final 40 circuits, chasing down the leaders with two laps remaining to make the winning move.
• Through 16 races, No. 07 team sits 10th in the division’s owner’s championship point standings on the strength of one win, four top-five and five top-10 finishes.

• Sammy Smith will drive Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 TMC Transportation Chevrolet Silverado in Friday’s Mission 176 at Watkins Glen International.
• Smith will pull double duty this weekend, also piloting JR Motorsports’ No. 8 Pilot Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Mission 200 at The Glen on Saturday.
• Last time out with the No. 7 team at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway, Smith battled day-long handling woes to secure a 10th-place finish in the No. 7 Silverado, his fourth such result in the series.
• The 21-year-old has made six CRAFTSMAN Truck Series appearances for Spire Motorsports, registering one top five and four top 10s while recording a 10.3 average finishing position.
• The two-time ARCA Menards Series East champion competed in the 2022 ARCA event at the Finger Lakes region circuit. He qualified on the pole by 0.361 seconds and dominated the event, leading 39 of 41 laps, in what had the makings of a winning day. Unfortunately, contact initiated by a competitor on a late-race restart shuffled him to fifth in the final rundown.
• One day after the heartbreaking finish to the ARCA Menards Series race, Smith returned to the course for his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series start. He capitalized on several late-race incidents to secure, at the time, a series-best third-place finish.
• In total, Smith has tallied three top fives in three ARCA Menards Series road course appearances. He has earned three top fives and nine top 10s in 20 road and street course races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
• In 96 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, Smith has earned three wins, 17 top fives and 45 top 10s. He secured wins at Phoenix Raceway (March 2023), Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (Oct. 2024) and Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway (April 2025).
• TMC Transportation celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022 and is the nation’s largest employee-owned open deck transportation company. TMC provides expert transportation services and supply-chain management solutions throughout the 48 contiguous states. Founded in 1972, TMC is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, and is known for its integrity, innovation, superior safety record, and dedication to quality and customer service. The company’s claim-free, on-time delivery record is the best in the business and is consistently recognized by its customers. Visit tmctrans.com.
• Smith will race Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-071 Friday afternoon. While the truck was last on track in June at Lime Rock Park, it had previously seen action at Circuit of the Americas last March with Connor Zilisch at the controls. In his CRAFTSMAN Truck Series debut, Zilisch set a track record while claiming the pole position by 0.714 seconds. Despite a pair of early-race miscues, Zilisch battled through the field twice to earn a spirited fourth-place finish.
• Before it was property of Spire Motorsports, chassis SMT-071 saw continued success as the primary road course truck for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Busch drove it to victory at Sonoma Raceway in June 2022, leading 45 of the event’s 75 laps en route to the team’s 95th win in the series.
• In eight appearances, SMT-071 has tallied two poles, one win and five top fives while maintaining a 3.6 average starting position and an 11.1 average finish. The truck has paced the field for 93 circuits and led laps in five of its eight starts.

Sammy Smith Quote
You have had speed at Watkins Glen in both the Xfinity and ARCA cars in the past. How will you parlay that experience with your preparation in order to run up front this weekend?
“These Silverados handle much different than the Xfinity car. The trucks have way more grip and on-throttle time, whereas you have to peddle the Xfinity car and you slide around quite a bit. I’ve been in the simulator a bunch with the team, and I’m really looking forward to hitting the track on Friday. I know Brian (Pattie) and the No. 7 team will bring a fast TMC Transportation Chevy Silverado, and believe we will be able to compete up front.”

• Brian Pattie stands atop of the No. 7 pit box, an entry that has seen an abundance of all-star caliber drivers behind the wheel throughout the 2025 season.
• The Zephyrhills, Fla., native has called 17 NASCAR Cup Series races at Watkins Glen. He led seven-time Formula One winner and two-time Indianapolis 500 champion, Juan Pablo Montoya, to his second and final victory in NASCAR’s premier series at Watkins Glen in 2010. He dominated the event, leading 74 of 90 laps and crossing the line 4.735 seconds ahead of the runner up.
• During his time at NEMCO Motorsports, Pattie worked with Canadian road course ace Ron Fellows, and the duo saw unmatched success at Watkins Glen. In the 50-year-old’s first and only prior CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race atop the box at the seven-turn, 2.45-mile circuit, Fellows qualified on the pole and secured the victory in 1999.
• The day after securing the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory, the Pattie-Fellows duo sat on the pole and led 52 of the 82 laps in the NASCAR Xfinity Series event. Despite taking the white flag in the top spot, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., slipped by Fellows in Turn 1, forcing Pattie and Fellows to settle for second. The pairing returned to the course in 2000 and 2001 where they earned back-to-back Xfinity Series victories.
• Last time out at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Corey Day started 16th and drove the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Silverado to a career-best runner-up finish. It marked his second top five in his last two series appearances.
• Through 16 races, the No. 7 team sits sixth in the division’s owner points standings on the strength of two wins, six top-five and seven top-10 finishes.
• In May, the team and driver Carson Hocevar claimed victory in the Heart of Health Care 200 at Kansas Speedway. Hocevar led 75 of the event’s 134 laps and survived last-lap contact en route to his fifth victory in the series and first aboard a Spire Motorsports prepared Silverado.
• The No. 7 team defended its 2024 victory in the Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February with Kyle Busch behind the wheel. The Las Vegas driver spent all 135 laps in the top 15 while leading a race-high 80 laps and recording a field-leading average running position (3.2) and driver rating (124.6).
• The 24-year industry veteran spent 14 seasons in NASCAR’s premier division. As a crew chief, he has amassed six wins in Cup Series competition, 11 in the Xfinity Series and seven in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. He stands as one of 11 crew chiefs to win races across all three of NASCAR’s national touring series.

• Rajah Caruth will handle the driving chores for Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado in Friday’s Mission 176 at Watkins Glen International.
• The third-year CRAFTSMAN Truck Series driver owns four series starts on road courses, highlighted by a 13th-place finish in 2023 at Circuit of the Americas. He includes two ARCA Menards Series road course races on his resume, including a 2022 Watkins Glen start, and a lone Xfinity Series appearance at the Charlotte ROVAL.
• Last time out at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Caruth spent a majority of the day in the top 10, and after sustaining nose damage around the race’s halfway point, held on for the remainder of the evening to finish 10th.
• In May’s Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway, Caruth held off hard-charging Corey Heim and Layne Riggs to earn his second-career CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory and lock himself into the playoffs for the second-consecutive season. After hitting pit road for the final time in the third position, the No. 71 pit crew nailed the stop, putting their driver out front to start the Final Stage. He led the final 51 laps en route to the win.
• Through the first 16 events on the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series calendar, the Washington, D.C., native has earned one win, three top fives and nine top 10s, while pacing the field for 189 circuits – tripling his 57 laps led entering the year.
• HendrickCars.com is the online home for everything Hendrick Automotive Group. Visitors can shop more than 30,000 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 protection programs, and explore how the company gives back to the community.
• The 2024 season marked a career year for Caruth, tallying one win, a pair of Cometic Gasket Pole Awards and five top-five finishes, all of which were the first of his young career. The 12 top-10 finishes on the season tripled Caruth’s total of four in 2023, while his average starting position of 10.7 was four positions higher than 2023 and his 11.6 average finish was an impressive seven positions higher.
• With his first career CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last season, Caruth became the third African-American driver to win a NASCAR National Touring Series race, joining 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Wendell Scott and current Cup Series star Bubba Wallace.
• Caruth and the No. 71 team qualified for the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series playoffs in 2024, the first such appearance for the recent Winston-Salem (N.C.) State University graduate. Despite reaching the Round of 8, mechanical issues stalled his championship bid in the season’s penultimate event at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
• The blue and white HendrickCars.com colors will wrap Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-072. Last on track at Lime Rock Park, the truck owns two top fives and five top 10s in its eight appearances.

Rajah Caruth Quotes
The 2022 ARCA Menards Series race was your only prior visit to Watkins Glen. From your understanding, how has the track changed in the three years since you last raced there?
“The track has only aged since I was last there in 2022. They have also done some work on various parts of the course. They updated the bus stop with less harsh curbing on entry, and added ripples to the exit of Turn 1 and ‘The Carousel.’ I feel extremely prepared to get up there. I have been spending a lot of time in the simulator with my crew chief (Kevin “Bono” Manion) and engineer (Aaron Volf), and have been utilizing all my resources through the Wise GM Driver Development Program.”

You will make your fifth road course start in a truck this weekend. How do you think you have grown as a road racer in that time?
“I feel like I have grown into a respectable road racer in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series field since my first road course race in 2023. Through my training, oversight and driver coaching over the years, I have developed the skills necessary to perform well at these kinds of tracks. I still have heights I want to reach, but considering I started from scratch, I feel like I am doing a good job. I expect to run further in the top 10 this weekend than we did last time out at Lime Rock.”

• Veteran crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion has called 14 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series road course events, collecting three top 10 finishes. Zane Smith’s 2021 sixth-place result at Watkins Glen marked his best finish in CRAFTSMAN Truck Series competiton.
• The Boylston, Mass., native stood atop the ‘war wagon’ in Martin Truex, Jr.’s victory in the inaugural Xfinity Series event at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The win marked the first of six in the 2005 campaign for the Truex/Manion pairing. Just nine months later, the potent duo secured their second Xfinity Series title in as many seasons at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
• Manion, a 31-year veteran of the sport, founded Spire Motorsports’ CRAFTSMAN Truck Series program alongside industry veteran Mike Greci in 2022. The team claimed its first victory in their second outing with William Byron behind the wheel at Martinsville Speedway.
• The 53-year-old has racked up six Cup Series victories – including the 2010 Daytona 500 – 17 NASCAR Xfinity Series triumphs and 12 CRAFTSMAN Truck series wins. Manion is also one of 11 crew chiefs to have called wins across all three of NASCAR’s national touring series.
• In 2023, Manion became one of few to call a race in all three of NASCAR’s national series in a single season, all of which came under the Spire Motorsports umbrella. He led the part-time effort on the No. 7 Silverado in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, helped in limited starts for Carson Hocevar in the Xfinity Series and took the reigns during the second half of the Cup Series season for Ty Dillon and the No. 77 team.

• Andres Perez de Lara will pilot the No. 77 Telcel Chevrolet Silverado for Spire Motorsports in the Mission 176 at Watkins Glen International.
• The Mexico City native will be making his second-career NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series road course start at Watkins Glen. In four road-course appearances in the ARCA Menards Series, Perez de Lara registered one top five and two top 10s, including a fourth-place finish in last September’s General Tire 100 at The Glen.
• Perez de Lara cut his teeth on road courses in his home country, Mexico. During the 2020 North and Central American Formula 4 Championship, Perez de Lara tallied four wins, 15 top fives, and 20 top 10s in 20 starts to secure Rookie of the Year honors.
• In six road course starts in the NASCAR Mexico Series, the 2023 series Rookie of the Year tallied one top five and four top 10s. He picked up two wins at Autodromo de Queretaro, a nine-turn 1.42-mile circuit in the FB-Bohn Mikel’s Truck Series, a feeder series for NASCAR Mexico.
• Telcel is Mexico’s leading telecommunications company, providing nationwide coverage, cutting-edge mobile connectivity, and high-speed internet services to millions of users. With over 30 years of experience, Telcel continues to innovate in digital communication, offering solutions that keep people connected anytime, anywhere.
• Beyond technology, Telcel is committed to supporting excellence in sports, particularly in motorsports. As a proud and long-time sponsor of Perez de Lara, Telcel fuels the passion for speed, precision and performance, driving success both on and off the track. Telcel will be a season-long partner with Perez de Lara and the No. 77 team.
• The 20-year-old has made 18 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts, 17 of which were behind the wheel of a Spire Motorsports Chevy Silverado. He earned his first-career top 10 in his CRAFTSMAN Truck Series debut last June at World Wide Technology Raceway via a ninth-place result. His career-best seventh-place finish at Martinsville Speedway in March marked his second top 10 in the series.
• The 2024 ARCA Menards Series champion juggled his duties while also competing full time in the NASCAR Mexico Series. In 2023, he earned the Rookie of the Year award while finishing fourth in the division’s championship point standings and reaching the series’ version of the NASCAR playoffs.
• Perez de Lara will pilot Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-061 on Friday. The chassis was last on track at Lime Rock Park, which was its’ first start since Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2022 with John Hunter Nemechek at the controls. In seven starts, the chassis has picked two runner-up finishes with Alex Tagliani (Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, 2022) and John Hunter Nemechek (Circuit of the Americas, 2022).

Andres Perez de Lara Quotes
The CRAFTSMAN Truck Series has not visited Watkins Glen in a few years. How do you think the race will play out?
“Watkins Glen is the road course on the schedule with the most passing opportunities. There will be a lot of chances to gain spots and work your way to the front. Restarts will be chaotic, especially heading into Turn 1, comparable to what we saw on the final restart at Lime Rock. My goal is to be patiently aggressive and take my chances when available, but not press the issue. I do not want to put myself in a spot where I can hurt my chances at a good finish.”

How will your ARCA experience at Watkins Glen help you heading into the weekend?
“It will help a ton going into my first truck start there. I feel like I have a good handle on the track. I ran fairly well there the past two years in ARCA, so I am excited to get back. Watkins Glen is one of my favorite road courses I have ran. The team and I have put a lot of time in at the simulator to improve the road course program. We have found some things to get better for this weekend, and are focused on bringing home a good finish.”

• Chad Walter has called eight CRAFTSMAN Truck Series road course events. Driver Tyler Ankrum earned Walter’s best result on a road course, a sixth-place result Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway’s road course configuration in 2020.
• Walter is a mechanical engineering graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, located 30 miles from Watkins Glen. During his studies, he played defensive end for the Big Red football team. He hails from Albion, N.Y., positioned just west of Rochester.
• In 19 road course events atop the NASCAR Xfinity Series box, the 54-year-old has tallied five top fives and seven top 10s. As a crew chief for the JR Motorsports’ No. 5 team, Walter reached Victory Lane at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with Ron Fellows in 2008. The duo elected to run long during a pit cycle as storms were approaching the circuit. When heavy rain descended upon the track on Lap 48, the race was deemed complete and Fellows was declared the winner.
• During his time as a shop engineer at Dale Earnhardt, Inc., Walter was part of Steve Park’s 2000 triumph at Watkins Glen. Park led 53 laps en route to his maiden Cup Series victory.
• Between NASCAR’s Xfinity Series and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, Walter has racked up six wins, 52 top fives and 131 top 10s.