Banking On Sponsor’s Success; Carlos Contreras Hoping For Solid Run At Mid-Ohio

Banking On Sponsor’s Success; Carlos Contreras Hoping For Solid Run At Mid-Ohio

Topics: Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200, Carlos Contreras

Banking On Sponsor’s Success; Carlos Contreras Hoping For Solid Run At Mid-Ohio

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management
Rick Ware Racing
August 13, 2015

LEXINGTON, Ohio (August 14, 2015) – Poised to make his third NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) start of the 2015 season, veteran driver Carlos Contreras hopes to reap the benefits of his sponsors success in Saturday afternoon’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Fresh off a successful pay per view showing in June, the BYB Extreme Fighting Series adds support for Contreras’s second tangle with Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, hoping the longtime Hispanic NASCAR driver can showcase his own moves and deliver a KO’ performance of his own driving the No. 15 BYBExtreme.com / Global Aircraft Solutions / Lilly Trucking Chevrolet Camaro for Rick Ware Racing (RWR).

“I’m very thankful to BYB Extreme Fighting Series and all of our partners at Rick Ware Racing for allowing us the opportunity to race this weekend at Mid-Ohio,” said Contreras. “For us, we look at this race much like we would a superspeedway race, where if you’re able to avoid trouble, you have the opportunity to have a good finish.”

Competing at all three of NASCAR XFINITY Series road courses last season, Contreras admits he easily able to shift his focus and attention from oval racing to road course racing, where not only driver technique is important, but a strong race car underneath you can lead to successful results.

“Mid-Ohio has speed, but it’s also a technical track, so you get the best of both worlds,” Contreras explained. “The biggest benefit is being able to power out of the corner and having that drive off so you can hammer down at those acceleration points and try to make up that distance to either catch up or pull away. That in itself should be a good show for the fans.”

A 15th place finish at Road America (Wisc.) followed by a 23rd at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International and a 21st place last August at the 2.25-mile road course of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Contreras believes that his team will be able to improve on their effort from the Lexington, Ohio-based race track last season and apply it forward.

“Our 15th place finish on the road course at Road America was something to be real proud of and it’s what everyone strived for the rest of the year at road courses,” recalled Contreras. “Of course, the rain contributed to part of our success at Road America, but I feel like what the team has learned from last year to this year will help us immensely this weekend. A top-20 is within reach for us weekend and that’s what we want to achieve.”

Of course, the Mexico City, Mexico driver also wants to do a good job so BYB Extreme Fighting Series, which is known for its non-stop bare knuckle brawling action with hopes they will return for more XFINITY Series races approaching the homestretch.

“We’ve been fortunate enough to have some great sponsors at Rick Ware Racing, but BYBExtreme.com has some of the same fundamentals that we do in NASCAR,” Contreras explained.

“The fighters are passionate about what they do and they will give nothing but their very best, which is very similar of any race car driver in the XFINTIY Series. We know a good showing on Saturday will help us be around for this last stretch of races in 2015.”

Team principal Rick Ware says he’s happy to have Contreras back behind the wheel for the first time since May and competing in the 21st race of the season.

“When it comes to road racing, Carlos has my highest regard,” said Ware. “He knows road racing inside and out and has been a huge asset to our team in making sure we have all the components to allow him to compete competitively at them. It’s a big weekend for us, as we think we’re bringing one of our best cars and alongside Carlos’s abilities, I think we all would be disappointed if we weren’t capable of a top-15 finish or so Saturday afternoon in our No. 15 BYBExtreme.com / Global Aircraft Solutions / Lilly Trucking Chevrolet Camaro.”

Dating back to 2003, Contreras has 32 NASCAR XFINITY Series starts to his credit with a best finish of 11th at his hometown track of Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in 2006. An outside pole (second) also at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in 2007 is his best qualifying effort to date.

The BYB Extreme Fighting Series was recently featured in the Rolling Stone magazine. The commentary offers an in-depth look into the growing series with a video glimpse as well. For more, please click here.

The Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 (75 laps / 169.35 miles) is the 21st of 34 events on the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series schedule. The first practice session of the weekend begins on Friday, August 14 from 1:30 p.m. to 2:25 p.m. A final practice session has been etched in closer to race conditions later in the day from 3:00 p.m. –- 4:25 p.m. Qualifying is set for race day, Saturday, August 15 scheduled to lift off at 11:15 a.m. The 40-car starting field will take the green flag shortly after 3:30 p.m. with live coverage on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite Radio, Channel 90. All times are local.

Rick Ware Racing is on Twitter. Follow them @RickWareRacing.

Photo Caption: Carlos Contreras, driver of the No. 15 BYBExtreme.com / Global Aircraft Solutions / Lilly Trucking Chevrolet Camaro for Rick Ware Racing in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS).

Media Contact:

Lisa Ware, Rick Ware Racing
lrware@aol.com