Race 2 Win: Nationwide Series Race Notes

Nationwide Series

Nicorette 300 - Brian Clauson Notes

Brian Clauson Atlanta Motor Speedway Advance Notes
Race: Nicorette 300 on Saturday, March 8 (NNS)
Track: Atlanta Motor Speedway (1.54 miles)
Location: Hampton, Ga.

Brian Clauson and No. 41 Polaroid Team (NNS)

NOTES

Clauson Returns to No. 41: Clauson, 18-year-old driver of the No. 41 Dodge, is returning behind the wheel of the No. 41 Polaroid Dodge this weekend at AMS. His last run was in Fontana last month when he and team encountered a cut tire that derailed their run and ended it way too early in 34th place. Prior to that, he left his mark on Daytona during the NNS season opener, scoring a career-best sixth-place finish in only his sixth career NNS start. Clauson, who just saw DIS for the first time in January during the NNS test session, also scored a career-best start of seventh place and was named the Raybestos Rookie of the Race.

Polaroid Makes NASCAR Debut in Atlanta: Polariod is making its NNS debut this weekend at Atlanta on the No. 41 Dodge. Last fall, Polariod signed a multi-year agreement to become a major associate sponsor on the No. 41 Target Dodge, driven by Sorenson, in the NSCS and the No. 9 and No. 10 Target Hondas, driven by Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon, in the IndyCar Series beginning this 2008 season. In addition to NNS competition, Polaroid will have a primary paint scheme during one event in both the NSCS and IndyCar Series.

BT Phone Home: Brian Taylor (a.k.a. “BT”), mechanic on the No. 41 Polaroid team, hails from the Peach State. He grew up in Cuthbert and has been with CGRFS for four years and in NASCAR for 10. He is a 1996 graduate of Randolph Southern High School in Shellman, Ga.

Rookie Standings: Clauson currently stands second in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings. He has a current tally of 25 points, just 12 behind NNS rookie class leader and fellow teammate Dario Franchitti.

Owner Standings Update: The No. 41 team dropped 14 positions in the owner standings after last weekend’s effort at Las Vegas when Kyle Krisiloff made his first start for the team and went high on the race track to make a pass. Unfortunately, he lost control of the No. 41 Dodge, wrecking the car and calling it a day way too early in 43rd place. The team now stands 28th, 227 points away from first place and 107 points outside the top 10.

QUOTES
How hard is it to stop and go with the races you are running? You raced at Daytona and California, but sat out Las Vegas while Krisiloff drove. Does that make this upcoming weekend’s run even more challenging? “It does throw an additional element into everything else I am trying to take in. So, it is a little bit different, but we have a really good car we are taking to Atlanta. The biggest hurdle is just learning about the track. I know this same team had a really good setup there last year at this time. I think we should be pretty good off the truck. I also will be leaning on Reed a little bit. He has been helping me over the last few weeks so I will definitely lean on him for some direction and insight.”

What are your thoughts on Brett Favre retiring? “I don’t follow football as much as I follow basketball, but it is going to be a different game. It seems as long as I have been alive or almost my entire life, Brett Favre has been football. He has been a big part of it and I am sure will still be part of it some way or another, but the game will be different without him in there. That is for sure.” CHASSIS INFO
No. 41 Polaroid Dodge (NNS): Chassis #753. The car helped the program score some strong finishes in 2007, including a 13th-place effort by A.J. Allmendinger at Phoenix last fall. Prior to that, it also carried CGRFS development driver Kevin Hamlin to a second-straight, top-10 finish in late July last year. Hamlin and team came home with a seventh-place finish from Gateway on July 21 and then the following weekend turned a 30th-place starting position into an eighth-place finish at the O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Ind. With the same car.