CARS Tour Event Preview: Orange Blossom 300 pres. by The Grilling Store-Orange County Speedway
MOORESVILLE, NC (April 14, 2015): With the inaugural event of the CARS Tour in the books, the attention is now turned to this weekend’s Orange Blossom 300 at Orange County Speedway. A pair of teenagers in the form of Cole Timm, on the Super Late Model side, and Todd Gilliland, amongst the Late Model Stock crowd, surprised most by taking home the first ever victories in CARS Tour competition. The ultra-fast Orange County facility, known for multiple groove stellar racing, will quickly showcase which teams made gains from the data they collected after getting accustomed to CARS Tour competition. Knowledge gained of when to “go for it” and when to “ride”, in addition to knowing what kind of setup package works best for their ride, has all the ingredients of a must see event once again for both Super Late Model and Late Model Stock fans of central North Carolina.
Orange Blossom 300 pres. by The Grilling Store NOTES & QUOTES
NOTES:
Track/Location: Orange County Speedway-Rougemont, NC
Track Size: .375
Event Name: Orange Blossom 300 pres. by The Grilling Store
Laps/Distance: 150/56 miles (each)
Event Schedule: 10:45AM-1:30PM Practice, 4:30PM Qualifying, 6PM Last Chance Race, 7PM Green: LMSC-SLM
Twitter Handle/Event Hashtag: @CARSTour, @OCS_Track / #OrangeBlossom300
CARS SLM Tour Pre Entered Drivers: #00 Lucas Ransone, #2 Trevor Noles, #2L Robby Lyons, #2R Clay Rogers, #4 Brandon Lynn, #5V Dominique Van Wieringen, #6 Brandon Setzer, #8N John Hunter Nemechek, #12 Harrison Burton, #14D Chris Davidson, #16 Lucas Jones, #17 Quinn Houff, #18 Keil Spaulding, #24 Richard Gould, #29W Matthew Wragg, #31 Kyle Grissom, #33 Roger Lee Newton, #40 Grant Galloway, #47 Chris Fontaine, #51 Christopher Bell, #51N Stephen Nasse, #54 Matt Craig, #56 Gus Dean, #57 Cole Timm, #66 Steve Wallace, #67 Clay Jones, #71R Nick Robinson, #77 Zane Smith (28 total)
CARS LMSC Tour Pre Entered Drivers: #08 Deac McCaskill, #07 Clint King, #1 Trent Barnes, #2 Myatt Snider, #7 Justin Crider, #12 Ryan Wilson, #12M Austin McDaniel, #16 Jeff Oakley, #16S RD Smith, #17 Stacy Puryear, #23 Donnie Puryear Jr., #27 Tommy Lemons Jr., #28 Chris Hudspeth, #31 Thomas Beane, #34 Matt Waltz, #41 Brayton Haws, #42 Craig Stallard, #44 Justin Johnson, #50 Jamey Caudill, #54 Michael Fose, #58 Tyler Ankrum, #59 Roddey Sterling, #63 Christian PaHud, #77 Blake Stallings, #82 Christian Eckes, #88 Chris Davis, #88D Doug Barnes Jr., #88T Robert Tyler, #98 Stefan Parsons, #98G Todd Gilliland, #99 Mike Darne (31 total)
***Official Entry Deadline Not Until Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 4PM***
Media Coverage:
-Speed51 (speed51.com) will provide LIVE Trackside Now Live Updates
-RACEFEEDX (www.racefeedx.com) – LIVE Pay per View Video Coverage
-CARS Tour Facebook (facebook.com/CARSProCup) and Twitter (@X1RProCup)
-Race 22 (race22.com) will provide LIVE Twitter Updates (@race22)
QUOTES:
Now You See It, Now You Don’t:
Orange County Speedway is possibly the quickest track CARS Tour competitors will compete on all season when you compare speeds vs. size of the facility. That speed mixed with the multiple grooves of racing the track provides to drivers means thing happen quick, fast, and in a hurry on track.
“Orange County is a fun place to race. You can really get up on the wheel and mash the gas and go, but the speed you carry all the way around the place can make for some pretty tight situations if you happen to get crossed up with someone. You really have to be patient with your passes there. You’ll see an opening and think its opportunity to get around someone and just like that it closes up on you. I think that makes qualifying pretty important when we show up Saturday. Hopefully we can keep our nose clean and be around at the end. Sometimes I think at Orange County that alone might give you a shot at a good finish” #56 Gus Dean-Dean Custom Air Ford Super Late Model
David Slays the Goliaths:
When Cole Timm unloaded at Southern National three weeks ago, everyone expected the No. 57 to be competitive, but very few were expecting the teenager to win the inaugural CARS Tour event against some of the strongest super late model competition on the east coast.
“It means a lot to be the first CARS Tour super late model winner, especially to beat some of the biggest names in super late model racing. I’m really looking forward to racing at Orange County this weekend. We’ve always been pretty fast there and I think we definitely have a shot at pulling off the ‘W’ again. We’re racing the best of the best. I honestly thought I would’ve been lucky to get out of Southern National with at top ten. I knew we had a good car when we unloaded but I didn’t ever think we had a shot to win until after qualifying. I hope things go that well again this weekend but we certainly aren’t expecting it to be easy.” — No. 57 Cole Timm – Triad Racing Development Chevrolet Super Late Model
Home Track Advantage:
For years, Stacy Puryear was considered a threat any time the driver of the No. 17 Chevrolet showed up to the track. After last weekend, Puryear is the most recent winner at Orange County Speedway, winning their weekly series opener for late model stock cars. A former track champion at OCS, Puryear is planning on racing the same exact car from last weekend during the Orange Blossom 300.
“I definitely think winning last week will be a huge help this week in the CARS Tour event. I was surprised more of the CARS Tour late model stock guys didn’t run in order to get some track time. The only thing we had to change was the tire and our car was great. The stiffer competition that we’ve already seen in the CARS Tour will be just like the older, glory-days Hooters ProCup races during the 2000’s when we ran against the best in the business. It would be so great to pull off a win this weekend because Orange County is my favorite track. You can really race there and I think we’ll be really good.”
For more information and to stay up with all the latest news and information about the CARS Tour, featuring both Late Model Stock Car and Super Late Model divisions, visit www.carsracingtour.com or contact the tour’s office directly at 704-662-9212. Stay social with the tour by “liking” the CARS Tour Facebook page and following along on Twitter @CARSTour.
Sources: Chris Ragle/CARS Tour PR