Catchfence

Nelson Piquet Jr.

Welcome Back… Nelson Piquet Jr., fresh off his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) last week at Michigan International Speedway, will take the wheel of the No. 30 Chevrolet Impala for Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Bristol Motor Speedway. This will mark Piquet Jr.’s first NNS start at the famed half-mile track and his fourth career NNS start.

Changes Atop the Pit Box… Effectively immediately, Mike Hillman Jr. will take over as crew chief for the No. 30 team, which features a myriad of drivers. Hillman Jr. has served as a NCWTS crew chief since 2005, amassing two championships, 19 wins, 81 top-five and 107 top-10 finishes in 185 races atop the pit box. Hillman Jr.’s most recent NNS event as a crew chief came with Miguel Paludo at Road America in June of this year.

Winning Week… Piquet Jr. claimed the win in the NCWTS race at Michigan last Saturday for his first victory in the series. Hequalified second for the VFW 200, and went on to be the dominant truck. On Lap 56 of the 100-lap event, Piquet Jr. went spinning while fighting for the lead and was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop. Piquet Jr. went on to conserve fuel and claim his first victory by 8.082 seconds. Piquet Jr.’s Turner Motorsports teammate, Justin Allgaier, went on to win the NNS race at Montreal that same day. Turner Motorsports is the first non-Cup Series affiliated team to win two races in the same day.

Numbers… In only three starts, Piquet Jr. claimed his first NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) victory at Road America earlier this season. Piquet Jr. is currently competing for the NCWTS Championship this season. In his 42 career NCWTS starts, his results have included one win, two poles, eleven top-fives and 21 top-10 finishes. Piquet Jr. earned his first NASCAR victory earlier this season when he took the checkered flag at Bristol Motor Speedway in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. The 27-year-old Tuner Motorsports driver is currently eighth in the NCWTS championship standings, and will return to the seat of his No. 30 Chevrolet Silverado on August 31st, 2012 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

This Week’s Impala… The No. 30 Qualcomm/Autotrac NNS team will bring chassis TMS-314 to Bristol Motor Speedway. TMS-314 has seen action on the track at Phoenix International Raceway and Richmond International Raceway.

Watch LIVE… Coverage of this week’s NNS UNOH 200 race will be live from Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday August 24th, 2012 at 8:00 pm EST on ESPN, with pre-race coverage starting at 7:30 pm EST. For even more coverage you can also tune in to MRN Radio or SiriusXM Satellite NASCAR channel 90.

Nelson Piquet Jr. on driving at Bristol Motor Speedway

“This is the first time I’ll be returning to a track that I have won at. My K&N Pro Series East win there was my first NASCAR win, and something I’ll remember forever. This style of racing is much different than what I grew up doing, but I enjoy it. I want people to know that I can race anything, which is why it was important to me to have my next Nationwide start at an oval instead of a road course. The last time I was in the No. 30 NNS Turner Motorsports Chevrolet Impala it resulted in a win, so hopefully we can come up with the same results this Friday night.”

- Turner Motorsports Press Release