Mooresville, N.C. (April 24, 2012) – Jennifer Jo Cobb, driver of the No. 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing F-150 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS), is proud to take another step forward with her Driven2Honor program. Cobb has created a PSA for the program and is launching the announcement this week. The PSA will air on public broadcasting stations around the nation.
The Driven2Honor program, which Cobb created in 2011, aims to accomplish three goals: to honor women in the U.S. Military, to inspire young women that the military is a viable option for their future and to empower female veterans post-duty.
“I’m so excited to launch our PSA for the Driven2Honor program,” Cobb said. “This is a huge step. We want to honor and reward our female soldiers for their service to our country, as well as educate young women about options that are available for them to pursue. This announcement will help spread the word. Our PSA will hopefully get more female soldiers, and their friends and families, involved with our initiative. We also hope that the PSA will drive everyone to our website (www.Driven2Honor.com) and educate them on some of the issues that female members of our military face and the different ways that we can support them.”
As a female athlete in a male dominated sport, Cobb developed Driven2Honor after realizing the similarities between the obstacles that she and female soldiers face in their professions. Cobb decided to use her racing platform to bring attention to military-related causes concerning female soldiers and reward soldiers for their service by hosting them as guests at the track each week she competes in a NCWTS event.
“It’s our honor to host female soldiers and their guests at the race track,” Cobb said. “We owe them a debt of gratitude for their service and bringing them to a race is a small token of our appreciation. We roll out the red carpet for them. From start to finish, they get to see all of the behind-the-scenes action as it develops. They get to tour our hauler, walk with our crew as they take the truck through inspection, have lunch with our team and watch the race from our pit stall. Female soldiers can nominate themselves for this experience or friends and family members can nominate someone that they feel deserves the honor. We want the PSA to let everyone know that this is available to them and how they can take advantage of it.”
Cobb is excited to see the program’s growth over the past year and hopes that the PSA will take the program to new heights.
“I’ve always wanted to use my race program for more than just competing on the track. I want it to make a difference in others’ lives,” Cobb said. “The Driven2Honor program has allowed me to do that. I’m very proud of what it’s accomplished and I hope that it continues to grow. In addition to rewarding and empowering our soldiers, I hope the program reminds everyone how important our female soldiers are and that it encourages everyone to become involved. I hope that this is just the beginning of the program and it will be helping and rewarding female soldiers for years to come.”
For more information on the Driven2Honor program, log onto www.Driven2Honor.com.
Statesville, N.C. (April 24, 2012) – Travis Kvapil, driver of the No. 93 BK Racing Toyota, delivered a 25th-place finish in last week’s STP 400 at Kansas Speedway. The performance marked the No. 93 team’s second top-25 of the season. It was BK Racing’s third top-25 since its formation in February of this year. Kvapil hopes to continue the team’s momentum in Saturday night’s Richmond 400 at Richmond International Raceway (RIR) and set another benchmark for the BK Racing squad.
Kvapil has made 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at RIR. Despite the high attrition rate at the .75-mile track, Kvapil has completed 3,983 of 4,010 laps (99.3%) in NSCS competition and never recorded a DNF.
In NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at RIR, Kvapil has one pole (2003) and three top-15 finishes (2001, 2002, 2003).
Following Kvapil’s run at Kansas Speedway, the No. 93 team moved up two positions to 31st in the owner point standings.
Comments from BK Racing Driver Travis Kvapil heading into the Richmond 400:
“Last week was a big week for us. It was this team’s second top-25, BK Racing’s third top-25. We feel like we’re getting stronger and we’re getting more competitive. We know we still have a lot of work left to do, but it was a nice reminder that we’re on the right track. We’ll keep setting higher and higher goals and hopefully we’ll come away with a better finish at Richmond.
“Richmond (International Raceway) is a unique track because it’s considered a short track, but you still go really fast for a three-quarter-mile track. Aerodynamics still play a big part in it. You can’t go in there and beat your fenders up. You’re going to pay the price if you have body damage. It’s a great place. It is short-track racing. Even though you carry a lot of speed, you drive like a quarter-mile or half-mile track, like the ones I grew up driving in Wisconsin. It’s all about making your car turn in the middle of the corner, having good forward drive on exit. It’s easy to get loose coming off Turn 4. You see a lot of guys spinning their tires all the way down the frontstretch. It’s hard to get hooked up.
“It’s a great facility and great track. You can run two- and three-wide when the groove widens out. For a driver, it’s a lot of fun. When you get to the corners, it’s not just a one-lane track. You can move around. There aren’t many short tracks that you can run in two or three lanes and that’s what makes Richmond so great.
“You really have to take care of your equipment. You use a lot of brakes. You’ve got to take care of your gear. You’ll put your best brake package on your car, like you run at Martinsville (Speedway). At the same time, because we are going the speeds we run, you have to bring a car with good down force. You can’t be just beating and banging. If you do that, you’ll lose your aerodynamics and lose speed. It’s a unique track. You drive it like you would a half-mile track, but because of the speed and how the groove opens up, you can really race there. There aren’t many three-quarter-mile tracks where you can run two or three different grooves and make passes and make your way to the front. Richmond definitely has all that.”
Statesville, N.C. (April 24, 2012) – Although BK Racing is making its inaugural performance at Richmond International Raceway (RIR), Landon Cassill is confident that his No. 93 BK Racing team is prepared to tackle the .75-mile oval. Cassill feels his performance at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) is a good indicator of what to expect in Saturday night’s Richmond 400.
Cassill was involved in a wreck at PIR earlier this season; however, he references the event as having one of his best-handling cars. He expects a similar-handling car will produce solid results and hopes to find the same level of comfort with his Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota this weekend.
Cassill has made three NSCS starts at RIR. His best finish is 25th place, which he achieved in September 2011. He has four starts in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He has a best finish of 12th place (2008) and has finished inside the top-25 in three of the four starts.
The No. 83 team remained in the top-35 of the NSCS owner point standings following the STP 400 at Kansas Speedway. Cassill’s car experienced problems with its fuel pressure last weekend and caused him to spend an extended time behind the wall. The team finished 34th, but remained 35th in the standings.
Comments from BK Racing Driver Landon Cassill heading into Richmond International Raceway:
“This is one of the best events that we run all year. The track has sold out their tickets for a long time. They usually pack the stands. It’s always a great show and the night race is always lots of fun. It’s really exciting to go to a short track. It’s where I made a few of my first Nationwide starts there and had a few good runs, so I’m excited.
“This will be BK Racing’s first time at Richmond. We don’t have any notes to look back on, but we had a really good car at Phoenix (International Raceway). Our car handled really well, but we got caught up in an accident (and finished 35th). Until that point, we were going forward. That should give us a good foundation for Richmond in terms of our setup. Hopefully that will give us a good starting point.
“Even though it’s expected to beat and bang at a short track, you have to take care of your car at Richmond, especially early on. Your car gets aero loose beside people, and aero tight behind people. You have to balance your aero grip versus your mechanical grip. You use a lot of brakes there and manage that. You also have to use your fenders to get around people every once in a while.
“Racing under the lights is fun. The sparks, the action and the excitement of a late-night race, it draws a good crowd. It’s good for the fans and good for our sport.”
Statesville, N.C. (April 17, 2012) – Travis Kvapil, driver of the No. 93 BK Racing Toyota, is known for being smooth in a race car. His paint scheme in this weekend’s STP 400 will affirm it. Kvapil will carry the colors of Burger King’s new BK® Tropical Mango Smoothie onboard his Camry. His car will be bright yellow, clad with mangos. Kvapil hopes the new digs, along with his past experience at Kansas, will be a recipe for success.
Kvapil has six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) starts at Kansas Speedway. His best finish (19th) came in 2006, driving for Cal Wells. In three NSCS events at Kansas (2005, 2006, 2011) Kvapil led the race for a total of five laps. In NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competition, Kvapil has six starts under his belt. He’s achieved four top-10s and one top-five finish.
The No. 93 team finished 33rd in last weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. The engine of Kvapil’s BK Racing Toyota prematurely expired and he was unable to finish the event. The team is now 34th in the owner point standings, only five points out of 30th place.
Comments from BK Racing Driver Travis Kvapil heading into the STP 400:
“We’ve got some new colors on our BK Racing Toyota this week. It’s going to have the BK Tropical Mango Smoothie featured on it. It’s a neat scheme and will be easy to see from the stands. I don’t think my spotter will have any trouble finding me on the track.
“The Strawberry Banana Smoothie will be on our teammate’s car. We’re proud that Burger King is using our team to help with its promotions. We know that NASCAR has the most passionate fans in the world and that they stand by their drivers. We hope we can add to Burger King’s success.
“We’ll have a little bit of a head start at Kansas (Speedway). When we prepare our cars, we’re usually starting from scratch. Our team was formed this year and we don’t have any preexisting notes to fall back on or reference. It’s a fresh start for us. At least we’ve been to a couple of tracks like Kansas this season and we can rely on what we’ve learned from them. That should help to give us a baseline and a good starting point for us to arrive at the track with. Our cars have gotten progressively better and hopefully we can keep improving on them this weekend.
“Kansas typically has a few grooves for your car to settle into. Depending on how it’s handling, it can run high or low. You can count on there being some good side by side racing. The winters have worn down the surface and it’s lost some grip through the years. You’ll probably see some cars sliding around and searching for the best line to make their cars work.”
