Tuesday
Joey Coulter, No. 22 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Silverado Darlington Preview
Press Release
Race: Too Tough To Tame 200
Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
Richard Childress Racing; NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race Notes:
RCR’s NCWTS History … In 162 NCWTS starts, RCR has earned 22 wins, 67 top-five finishes, 103 top-10 finishes and 24 poles, along with the inaugural series championship in 1995 with Mike Skinner. The organization has an average starting position of 10.2 and an average finish position of 10.1.
RCR History at Darlington … RCR has just one previous appearance at Darlington. Austin Dillon started ninth and finished fifth in August 2010 at the track.
Social Media … To keep up-to-date with the latest news and information and to view exclusive content, visit RCR’s Twitter page – @RCRracing, RCR’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team Twitter pages – @RCR3ADillon and @RCR22JCoulter, RCR’s NCWTS driver Twitter pages – @AustinDillon3 and @JoeyCoulter, and the Official Austin Dillon Facebook fan page -http://www.facebook.com/adillon3.
Catch the Action … Flag-to-flag coverage of this weekend’s Too Tough to Tame 200 at Darlington Raceway will be televised live on SPEED and broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio beginning at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, March 12.
No. 22 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Silverado
Race Notes and Quotes
This Week’s Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet at Darlington Raceway … Joey Coulter will pilot chassis No. 004 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Camping World Truck Series stable in this weekend’s Too Tough To Tame 200. This is the same chassis that Austin Dillon drove at Kansas Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2010.
Phoenix Recap … In his first career start at Phoenix International Raceway, Coulter and the No. 22 RCR Chevrolet team finished ninth after starting from the 10th position.
Getting Loopy in Darlington … Coulter has posted some impressive loop data statistics through the first two races of the 2011 season:
- 16th in the category of average running position with a 19.112 average.
- 15th in the category of driver rating with a score of 69.3. Driver rating is calculated by a formula combining wins, finishes, top-15 finishes, average running position while on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, led most laps, lead-lap finish.
- Eighth in the category of laps in top 15 (167 laps/runs in the top-15 66 percent of the time).
- 14th in the category of fastest drivers early in a run (first 25 percent of laps run since a pit stop).
- 13th in the category of fastest drivers late in a run (last 25 percent of laps run since a pit stop).
- 19th in the category of fastest on restarts (speed of first two laps run under green).
- 10th in the category of fastest laps run (five fastest laps this season/2.8 percent of the fastest laps).
Off Weekend Family Time … The NCWTS’ off weekend fell at the same time as spring break at his school, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, so Coulter spent this past weekend visiting his hometown of Miami Springs, Florida with his family.
Stay in School … Coulter and fellow NCWTS competitor Johanna Long visited Darlington-area elementary schools last week to teach children about racing and the importance of staying in school. The drivers showed off their safety equipment, including Coulter’s Sparco racing gloves and driving suit, and presented each child with a ticket to Saturday’s Too Tough To Tame 200.
Meet Joey … Coulter will join teammate Austin Dillon and the rest of the NCWTS starting field in an autograph session at the track on race day from 1:30 until 2:30 p.m.
What do you think of racing for Richard Childress in the truck series?
“So far it’s been great. We’re only two races into this program, and I already feel like we have a great team together. Everybody at the shop builds awesome race cars and so far it’s just turned out really well. At Daytona, we were running great and had a tire go down early in the race. It put us behind and kind of ended our night, but Phoenix was a huge rebound race for us. We practiced pretty decent, qualified in the top 10, ran there all night and ended up finishing ninth. That was my first time at that race track. That was my team’s first time competing in a race where we were really making changes on pit road, and making more than one pit stop, so it was a big deal to go out there and have a top-10 day like that. I think it set the tone for us, hopefully, for the next few races. Darlington is another track I’ve never been to so coming here is going to be really exciting.”
What are you doing to prepare for Darlington?
“I’ve watched a lot of videos and I’ve talked to a lot of people about this race track, and I feel like that is really helping a lot. I’ve talked to people who have raced here the last couple of years and they’ve really given me characteristics of the track and told me where I will need to be. My teammate, Austin Dillon, has been the main one giving me advice. He ran really well here the first time he came, so I feel like he’s a really good person to sit down and talk to. We’ve watched last year’s race four or five times, and have just gone over them, and gone over them, and gone over them. He’s shown me everything from where to run during qualifying, to what to do if you start to get tight, or start to get loose. He broke everything down, and I feel like that is going to make things a lot easier for me.”
Do you think Darlington will be “Too Tough to Tame?”
“It’s definitely an exciting challenge. I’ve always liked race tracks that are really different, tracks that other drivers think are so out of control. One of my favorite race tracks is Salem Speedway up in Indiana. It’s a half-mile, high-banked oval and you run right up against the wall. It’s just out of control on the race track. I think Darlington, obviously, is not like that. It is its own beast, but I think I’ll enjoy it and having Austin as a teammate, and having his notes from last year, I think we’ll be able to start off pretty fast.”
- Richard Childress Racing Press Release
Article Tags: Austin Dllon, Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Joey Coulter, Johanna Long, Kansas Speedway, Mike Skinner, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, NCWTS, No. 22 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Silverado, Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway, PIR, RCR, Richard Childress Racing, Too Tough to Tame 200, UNC, University of North Carolina
