Dylan Lupton NASCAR XFINITY Series VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 Fast Facts

Dylan Lupton NASCAR XFINITY Series VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 Fast Facts

Topics: Dylan Lupton, VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300

Dylan Lupton NASCAR XFINITY Series VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 Fast Facts

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management
September 24, 2015

Dylan Lupton, No. 25 Zaxby’s Chevrolet Camaro, VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 Fast Facts

NASCAR XFINITY Series Race No. 27, VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, Kentucky

Race Information: Event: VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300, Saturday, September 26 at 8:00 p.m. Local Time Track: Kentucky Speedway Qualifying: Saturday, August 26 at 4:45 p.m. Local Time Track Length: 1.5-mile paved oval.

Back And Hungry For More: For the third time in the last seven races, NASCAR Next member Dylan Lupton will return to the helm of the No. 25 Athenian Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro.

After two successful battles on the road courses of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Road America (Wisc.), Lupton returns to oval racing for the 27th race of the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series season.

Last Race Recap; Road America (Wisc.): In his second consecutive road course race, Lupton battled Mother Nature and himself to persevere with a noteworthy 13th place finish.

Lupton overcame a practice crash and wet conditions to post his fourth top-20 finish in seven start this season. With qualifying being canceled because of adverse track conditions, Lupton quickly muscled his way forward from his 25th place starting position.

Contending for a top-10 finish, Lupton among much of the lead lap cars found themselves victim of an array of long late race caution laps, which hindered his opportunity to capitalize.

Still, the rising phenom climbed 11 positions over the final four laps of the race to net his second-best effort for the Concord, North Carolina-based Athenian Motorsports team.

Networking Galore: Despite not competing in the most recent NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Chicagoland Speedway last weekend, Lupton spent his time in the Windy City networking in the garage, as well as mingling with members of the NASCAR media who are noticing his recent success among NASCAR’s top-three national divisions.

Lupton Swag Now Available: From now until the end of the current NASCAR XFINITY Series season, Lupton has an array of Dylan Lupton Racing swag available to the race fans. Fans will be able to win the swag through at-track appearance, as well as various contests through his Twitter (@LuptonDylan) account and his Facebook page (Dylan Lupton Racing).

Second Is The Best: The Wilton, California native will make his second intermediate debut and first since Chicagoland Speedway in July. Quickly showing his finesse behind the wheel on the 1.5-mile track, Lupton posted the seventh fastest lap. In qualifying, Lupton netted the 21st fastest time. During the race, a top-20 was assured, but a late-race incident relegated him to a 34th place finish.

Back To School: Recently, Lupton returned to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) where he is pursuing a business degree while juggling a profession behind the wheel of a race car. Maintaining a grade point average (GPA) of 3.1 throughout his tenure, Lupton returned for his senior year two weeks ago.

XFINITY Debut: Lupton made his NASCAR XFINITY Series debut at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway in March for the Axalta Faster. Tougher. Brighter. 200. With prior experience at the 1.0-mile track in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Series, Lupton arrived at the track highly optimistic. Lupton had a solid showing, qualifying 23rd and finishing a respectable and competitive 19th.

Subsequently, Lupton has made additional NXS starts at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, Chicagoland Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and most recently Road America (Wisc.)

Chassis Intel: Veteran crew chief Mike Ford has elected to bring Athenian Motorsports chassis number 05 to the 1.5-mile oval this weekend. The team will utilize chassis number 08 as its backup. The primary vehicle is the same automobile that Lupton raced in the Owens Corning AttiCat 300 on June 21 at Chicagoland Speedway. Chassis 08 has served as the team’s primary backup all season and has not competed in a race.

Look What I’ve Done: For the past two seasons (2013 and 2014), Lupton has competed in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Series driving for Sunrise Ford Racing. In the two years driving the No. 9 Ford Fusion, Lupton notched two wins, 13 top-fives and 26 top-10s in 29 races. After finishing fifth in points in 2013, Lupton battled Greg Pursley for the championship last year, but fell short and finished second.

Member Of Elite Class: In May, Lupton was announced as one of 12 drivers in the NASCAR Next program. The 2015-2016 class marks the second year that Lupton has been a part of the program. NASCAR Next, an evolution of the Next9 initiative that began in 2011, is an all-embracing industry initiative to help spotlight the sport’s rising stars – and boost fan recognition around talent that will grow into NASCAR Sprint Cup Series mainstays.

XFINITY Schedule Set: In addition to Phoenix, Richmond, Chicagoland, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Road America (Wisc.), the two-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series West winner is also scheduled to appear in the No. 25 Zaxby’s Chevrolet Camaro in at least one other race, at Kentucky Speedway (September).

Lupton is working hard to add additional NASCAR XFINITY Series races to his platter before the end of the season on November 21 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.

It’s Not Just Fast Food, Its Zaxby’s: Zaxby’s will plaster its colors on the No. 25 Chevrolet Camaro this weekend at Road America (Wisc.). Zaxby’s is the primary sponsor for Lupton’s Athenian Motorsports teammate John Wes Townley.

An alternative to fast food, Zaxby’s offers its guests prepared-at-order Chicken Fingerz, Traditional or Boneless Wings, sandwiches, Zalads and Zappetizers, along with a variety of nine sauces ranging from Wimpy and Tongue Torch to Nuclear and Insane. Childhood friends Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley hatched the Athens, Ga.-based chain in 1990 to provide a fun, relaxing atmosphere that would keep guests coming back for more. The company ranked number seven in the 2012 Top 10 Excellent Large Fast-Food Chains With 500 or More U.S. Units Quick-Track study published by Sandelman & Associates.

The chain also ranked number five in the nation for total sales and number one in the chicken segment in the 2012 Top 150 Fast-Casual Chain Restaurant Report published by Technomic. In honor of the thousands of children the restaurant chain serves every year, Zaxby’s is a proud supporter of Make-A-Wish. The company operates more than 600 locations in 13 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

Athenian Motorsports, Kentucky Speedway Pre-Race Quotes: Dylan Lupton, driver of the No. 25 Zaxby’s Chevrolet Camaro:

On His Most Recent NASCAR XFINITY Series Race At Road America (Wisc.): “I was extremely satisfied with the way our weekend turned out at Road America.

“Coming off a top-10 finish at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, I think the pressure was on to put on a duplicate performance, if not something better.

“It took me a while to get comfortable with Road America and during a late-race run in the second practice, I messed up and wound up in the barriers. The team did a great job repairing our car and we made some serious headway from our 25th place start throughout the race.

“When it came to go time, we made the decision to pit, just to ensure we had enough fuel for a green-white-checkered finish, but when there was a lot of caution laps there at the end, our time to get back to the front was limited. Still, I hustled and we got back to 13th, so all-in-all, it wasn’t a bad day.”

On Outlook For Kentucky Speedway: “I’m really looking forward to Kentucky Speedway this weekend, because I feel like we as a team have a lot of momentum together.

“This is our last scheduled race together for this season, but we’re working extremely hard to make sure that doesn’t happen. No doubt a good performance on Saturday night will aid in that cause.

“Mike (Ford, crew chief), Mike (Hamlin) and all the Athenian Motorsports guys have worked extremely hard day and night to make sure I have something comfortable and competitive with for this weekend.

“I got a taste for intermediate track racing earlier this summer at Chicagoland Speedway. We were fast, even though we didn’t get the finish we wanted in the end. This weekend, we’ll look to finish what we started there.”

On Goals At Kentucky Speedway: “I think our goals are pretty simple, but achievable for this weekend at Kentucky.

“The biggest challenge for us this weekend will make sure we can get the speed out of our No. 25 Zaxby’s Chevrolet Camaro during practice and qualifying for a night race.

“Once the race starts, we’ll be getting closer to darkness and both the track and the car will change immensely. It’s the team’s job on pit road to prepare for that, as well as my job behind the wheel to adjust for it.

“If we can keep ahead of the track changes, we should be in good shape for a strong performance. For sure, this is an opportunity for us to shine in the final stand-alone race of the season.”

On Working With Crew Chief Mike Ford: “I really enjoy working with Mike. We’ve come to the point where we’re both comfortable working with each other and that has produced results on the track that we knew we were capable of. I have the confidence in him as a crew chief and I know that he believes in my ability as a driver. Hopefully, we can show that even more with another top-10 finish on Saturday night.”

On Being A Returning Member Of NASCAR Next Program: “I’m very honored to be a returning member of the NASCAR Next program. The NASCAR Next program has taught me a lot as I continue my journey to the top of the sport. I’ve embraced every opportunity that the program has offered and it’s really been influential in my quest to learn the ins and outs of the sport.”

PRIOR RESULTS:

Dylan Lupton, Kentucky Speedway Prior Performance Record:

Lupton has no prior starts at Kentucky Speedway, site of Saturday night’s VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300. This weekend will mark his NASCAR XFINITY Series debut at the Northern Kentucky-based race track.

The VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 (200 laps / 300 miles) is the 27th of 33 races on the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series schedule. The first practice session of the weekend begins on Friday, September 25 from 3:30 p.m. to 4:25 p.m. A final practice session has been etched in closer to race conditions later in the day from 6:00 p.m. –- 7:25 p.m. Qualifying is set for race day, Saturday, September 26 scheduled to lift off at 4:45 p.m. The 40-car starting field will take the green flag shortly after 8:00 p.m. with live coverage on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), the Performance Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite Radio, Channel 90. All times are local (Eastern).

Fast Links:

Driver: Dylan Lupton on Twitter @LuptonDylan or visit LuptonRacing.com or on Facebook.

Team: Follow Athenian Motorsports on Twitter @AthenianMotors.

Marketing Partner: Zaxby’s: Zaxbys.com.

Sanction: NASCAR XFINITY Series: NASCAR.com.

About Zaxby’s Racing:

Zaxby’s has been a fixture in NASCAR since 2007 with driver John Wes Townley. In July 2014, Zaxby’s joined forces with Athenian Motorsports. AMS will operate out of a new, state-of-the-art, 43,000 square foot facility in Concord, N.C. in 2015. The team will carry the Zaxby’s colors as it fields full-time entries in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

About Zaxby’s:

An alternative to fast food, Zaxby’s offers its guests prepared-at-order Chicken Fingerz, Traditional or Boneless Wings, sandwiches, Zalads and Zappetizers, along with a variety of nine sauces ranging from Wimpy and Tongue Torch to Nuclear and Insane. Childhood friends Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley hatched the Athens, Ga.-based chain in 1990 to provide a fun, relaxing atmosphere that would keep guests coming back for more. The company ranked number seven in the 2012 Top 10 Excellent Large Fast-Food Chains With 500 or More U.S. Units Quick-Track study published by Sandelman & Associates.

The chain also ranked number five in the nation for total sales and number one in the chicken segment in the 2012 Top 150 Fast-Casual Chain Restaurant Report published by Technomic. In honor of the thousands of children the restaurant chain serves every year, Zaxby’s is a proud supporter of Make-A-Wish. The company operates more than 595 locations in 13 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

PHOTO CREDIT: Dylan Lupton, driver of the No. 25 Zaxby’s Chevrolet Camaro in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) for Athenian Motorsports.

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