SS GreenLight Racing | NASCAR Xfinity Series| Texas Motor Speedway | My Bariatric Solutions 300 Fast Facts
Team: No. 08 SS GreenLight Racing Team
Driver: Joe Graf Jr.
Primary Partner(s): Bucked Up Energy | Core Development | EAT SLEEP RACE
Manufacturer: Chevrolet Camaro
Crew Chief: Patrick Donahue
Starting Position for My Bariatric Solutions 300: 25th (Random Draw)
Driver Points Position: 21st | Owner Points Position: 27th
Chassis Intel: SSGLR Chassis No. 711; competed last at Kentucky Speedway on July 10, 2020 (Start: Third | Finish: 22nd)
Chassis No. 711 also ran at Texas Motor Speedway in March 2019 with a 21st place finish after a 20th place starting position.
Engine: Earnhardt-Childress Racing Engines (ECR)
Notes of Interest:
Full of Energy: Bucked Up Energy will continue its role as the primary partner of Graf’s No. 08 Chevrolet Camaro. Texas is the eighth race in a multi-year, multi-race deal with the former ARCA Menards Series winner.
Bucked Up is the everyman (or woman) energy drink. We don’t care about the color of your collar; whether blue or white, we all require energy to power our days. We want something that tastes like success, enhances mood and focus, and most of all, delivers long-lasting energy.
One Year Older: Following last weekend’s doubleheader weekend at Kentucky Speedway, Joe Graf Jr. celebrated his 22nd birthday this past Sun. on July 12, 2020.
Joe Graf Jr. Xfinity Series Texas Motor Speedway Starts: Joe Graf Jr. will make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in Saturday afternoon’s My Bariatric Solutions 300 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Joe Graf Jr. Xfinity Series Career Intermediate Nuggets: At tracks greater than 1.0-mile in size, Graf has competed in nine NASCAR Xfinity Series races. He holds an average starting position of 23.0 and an average result of 19.9.
Career Best Finish At Kentucky!: Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Joe Graf Jr., tied his career-best finish for the third time during the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season in last Thursday night’s Shady Rays 200 at Kentucky Speedway when the Mahwah, N.J. native finished 13th.
He also finished 13th at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Jun. 1, 2020 and at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway on Jun. 14, 2020.
Joe Graf Jr. ARCA Menards Series Career Intermediate Nuggets: At tracks greater than 1.0-mile in size, Graf has competed in eight ARCA Menards Series races. He holds an average starting position of 11.8 and an average result of 12.9.
Despite 39 starts in the ARCA Menards Series between the 2018 and 2019 seasons, Graf Jr. never made a start at Kentucky Speedway. However, in his last ARCA Menards Series race, he finished ninth after starting 21st at Kansas Speedway in October 2019, a track with similar characteristics to Kentucky Speedway.
Did You Know?: While NASCAR Xfinity Series competition was idle during the coronavirus pandemic for two months, Joe Graf Jr. got busy.
Whether it was working out, spending time on iRacing in the Pro Series Invitational or Saturday Night Thunder, Graf recently gave an insider view on how his quarantine went and offered even a little insight on himself as a person.
Click here to watch video.
From The Pit Box: Industry veteran Patrick Donahue is Joe Graf Jr.’s crew chief. He will crew chief his 168th NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday afternoon. In his previous 167 races, he has two wins, eight top-five and 14 top-10 finishes to his resume. He has eight prior Xfinity races as crew chief at Texas Motor Speedway with a best finish of 13th twice in March 1999 with NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon and in Nov. 2019 with Gray Gaulding.
Follow on Social Media: For more on Joe Graf Jr. visit JoeGrafJr.com, like him on Facebook (Joe Graf Jr.), follow him on Twitter (@JoeGrafJr) and Instagram (@joegrafjr). For more on SS GreenLight Racing, please like them on Facebook (SS GreenLight Racing) and follow them on Twitter (@SSGLR0708) and visit their website at SSGreenLight.com.
Joe Graf Jr. Pre-Race Quotes:
On Kentucky Speedway: “It was a weekend with mixed emotions. We had a really good No. 08 Bucked Up Energy Chevrolet that helped us capitalize on track position at the end of the race to finish 13th.
“On Friday night, we started third, but were really loose to start the race and could never recover the track position despite our best efforts to get the car handling better. Still, the track time was important, and we brought the car home in one piece and that’s important.”
On Texas Motor Speedway: “Another new track for me this year, but I’m ready to buckle in and get after it. I have been doing what I can to study, whether that is watching old races, studying video and photos and talking to a lot of people, but nothing accounts for actual track time.
“I’ve been told that Texas is a unique mile and a half track. Hopefully, we can make some gains during the race and have a top-15 finish to carry us to Kansas Speedway.”
On Approaching Halfway Point of 2020: “It’s definitely been a whirlwind season so far. Everyone at SS GreenLight Racing has worked hard to bring fast race cars to the race tracks and be patient with my learning curve.
“We’ve made some strides this season, especially since returning from the break, but we still have a lot more work to do and look forward to accomplishing those goals during the second half of the year.”
Race Information:
The My Bariatric Solutions 300 (200 laps | 300 miles) is the 16th of 33 NASCAR Xfinity Series races on the 2020 schedule. The 37-car field will take the green flag shortly after 2:00 p.m. on Sat., Jul. 18, 2020 with live coverage on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), the Performance Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite Radio, Channel 90). All times are local (Central).
About SS Green Light Racing:
As one of the most tenured teams in all of NASCAR, SS GreenLight Racing has been a developmental hub for drivers looking to climb the ranks. Led by owner and former driver Bobby Dotter, the team has fielded entries in either the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series or the Xfinity Series competition since 2001.
Coming off a successful 2019 Xfinity campaign, SS GreenLight Racing looks to build further momentum with their two-car program in 2020.
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