Blake Koch at Bristol Motor Speedway… Blake Koch has 11 previous starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS). His best start (16th) came in this race last year. He finished 37th in that event after a mechanical failure in the steering box shortened the team’s day. Koch’s best finish (8th) at BMS came the last time the NXS visited the track.
Sounding Off- Blake Koch… “Short tracks are what I like most and what I feel most comfortable on so I’m excited for Bristol. I like running the bottom, but last time we were here running the top was what won the race for drivers. We will have to see what works best for us and hope to find some speed early in practice and continue to improve throughout the weekend.”
Dash 4 Cash is Back… Koch has the chance to take home an extra $100,000 on Saturday as XFINITY’s Dash 4 Cash program returns at BMS. If he is one of the top-two NXS finishers in the first two stages, he will have a chance to compete for the bonus in the final stage. The top-finishing NXS driver in Stage 3 who was determined eligible by finishing in the top-two in one of the first two stages will take home the bonus. Two Dash 4 Cash wins in a season would secure Koch a spot in the NXS playoffs.
2017 Season… Koch is currently 10th in the NXS Championship standings after securing four top-15 finishes in the six races so far this season. He has recorded one top-five and one top-10 starting position. The last time Koch was on track was Texas Motor Speedway where he finished 16th.
Blake Koch NXS Career… Koch makes his 187th NXS start this weekend at BMS. To date, Koch has a career-best NXS starting position of second at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 2013), and a career-best NXS finish of eighth at Richmond International Raceway (April 2016), Bristol Motor Speedway (August 2016) and Phoenix International Raceway (November 2016).
Meet Blake…Koch and crew chief Chris Rice will serve as grand marshals for Friday night’s Speedway Children’s Charities Spring Race 5K presented by Agero at BMS. Koch will address the crowd, take photos and meet with fans at 7:15 p.m. ET before joining Chris Rice and Speedway Children’s Charities honored superhero “Ducky” Keller to give the command for the 7:30 p.m. ET start time. Registration is $25 with all proceeds benefitting local children through Speedway Children’s Charities.
Koch will meet with fans and sign autographs at the LeafFilter Gutter Protection display in the BMS FanZone on Saturday, April 22nd at 11:20 a.m.
Tune-In… The 300-lap NXS Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 from BMS will be televised live Saturday, April 22nd, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. ET on FS1 and will be broadcasted live on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio channel 90.
Keeping up with Kaulig Racing… To receive up-to-date information on the No. 11 NXS team, follow @KauligRacing on Twitter as well as on the Kaulig Racing™ Facebook page, www.facebook.com/kauligracing, and the team’s website, www.kauligracing.com.
