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Event Preview Fact Sheet

Ryan Gifford
No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet

Event: Central Iowa Building and Construction Trades 125 – September 4, 2009
Venue: Iowa Speedway – Newton, Iowa

This Week’s No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet at Iowa Speedway … Richard Childress Racing developmental driver Ryan Gifford will pilot Chassis No. 166 from the Richard Childress Racing stable in this weekend’s Central Iowa Building and Construction Trades 125 NASCAR Camping World Series West event at Iowa Speedway. Formerly a No. 07 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racer, this car has been reworked by the RCR Nationwide shop for Gifford.
Fourth Start … This weekend’s Central Iowa Building and Construction Trades 125 will mark Gifford’s fourth career start in a NCWS event, and his first start in the series’ West division. Earlier this year, Gifford qualified 14th in his NCWSE debut at Tri-County Motor Speedway in Hudson, N.C. After working his way into the top 10, Gifford was spun out by another driver as the field attempted a green-white-checkered flag finish in the Tri-County 150 on April 25 and was credited with a 17th-place finish. At South Boston (Va.) Speedway, Gifford qualified 10th on his way to a runner-up finish in the Camping World 150 on May 30 in just his sixth-career start on an asphalt track. Most recently, Gifford posted a fourth-place finish in the Heluva Good! 125 NCWSE race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Big Time … When Gifford takes to the .875-mile Iowa Speedway track, it will mark just the second time the 20-year-old driver will be competing on a track larger than a half-mile in length (New Hampshire Motor Speedway was the first).
Test … Gifford tested at the “Little Rock” Speedway at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway two weeks ago in preparation for this weekend’s race at Iowa.
Season So Far … Gifford is running a combination of dirt track, asphalt Late Model and NCWS events this season for Team Dillon Racing (owned by RCR vice president of competition, Mike Dillon) and Richard Childress Racing. Some highlights of the year to date include; a visit to the Alltel DIRTCar Nationals at Volusia (Fla.) Speedway, where Gifford posted five top-five feature finishes in seven nights of racing; a sixth-place finish in his first-career start on asphalt at Tri-County Motor Speedway on April 22; a 10th-place result in the FASTRAK Late Model Challenge race at The Dirt Track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway; a second-place finish in the Camping World 150 at South Boston Speedway and a fourth-place finish in the NCWSE event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June.
Race Broadcast Information … The Central Iowa Building and Construction Trades 125 will be contested Friday, September 4, at 8 p.m. Central Daylight Time. The event is scheduled to air on a tape-delayed basis on SPEED, Thursday, September 10, at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (Check your local listings to confirm date and time).

Ryan Gifford Quotes:

You’ve never competed at Iowa Speedway, but you did go watch your teammate, Austin Dillon, race there in the NASCAR Nationwide Series a few weeks ago. What did you learn about the track from observing the other drivers? “The guy that’s going to be successful is the one who can get his car to work the bottom groove and can get over the bumps in (Turns) 1 and 2 the best. If you can do that and not get loose, you’re going to be fast.”

This is the second time you’re racing on a track over a half-mile in length. Is there anything that’s going to be different at Iowa that you think will give you an advantage over what you dealt with at New Hampshire Motor Speedway earlier this season? “The biggest difference that’s going to help me, I think, is that the practice sessions are broken up more. At New Hampshire, you practiced for 90 minutes at one time, so you didn’t have a lot of time to debrief with your crew chief and decide on changes. At Iowa, you’ll get to practice, then come in and get out of the car and think about it and talk it over with your crew before you decide on what changes to make and go back out there. I think that’s going to make a huge difference.”

You didn’t really know what to expect at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, with it being the biggest track you’ve competed on. You came out of there with a top-five finish. How much of a confidence boost was that for you? “It gave me a lot of confidence. To finish second at South Boston (Speedway) and then back that up with a top-five at New Hampshire (Motor Speedway) was huge. I always want to go the next step and get better, so now I’m looking to win, but I’d be happy if we can put up another top five. If we keep getting the top five’s, we’ll get our fair share of wins.”

Crew Chief Wayne Orme Quotes:

Given that Gifford has a second-place and fourth-place finish in his past two NCWS starts, what would you consider a success this weekend at Iowa? “I honestly think we can pull off a top-three finish, but we’d be happy with a top five.”

Since he’d never competed on a track that large, how impressed were you with Gifford’s fourth-place run at New Hampshire earlier this season? “I was very impressed. From the time he rolled off the truck until he qualified, he picked up a second-and-a-half per lap, and that was just him learning and gaining confidence. He struggled a little bit with having to shift from second to third (gear), because he’d never had to do that. In his other cars, he only has to shift from third to fourth and you don’t shift at all in a dirt car. He’d lose three or four spots on every restart because of the shifting, so for him to come out of there with a top five was that much more impressive.”

How much will the break between practice sessions help Gifford and yourself in getting the car where he likes it? “Oh, it’s going to help a ton. He’ll be able to relax, get out and talk about it and we can hopefully make some good changes. At New Hampshire, we had one long practice session and I didn’t really want to make any changes during it. He was learning the car and adapting his driving style to how the car handled, so I didn’t want to mess that up. At Iowa, he’ll be able to go out and run, then we’ll come in and put stickers (new tires) on it and he’ll make a mock qualifying run. Then we can think it through and talk it over and hopefully make some smart changes before the next practice.”

From the beginning of the season until now, what is the biggest area of improvement you’ve seen in Gifford? “(He’s really improved) in the input he gives me. His verbiage on what the car’s doing has gotten much better. As he’s raced this year, he’s learned what effect the changes are going to have on his car, and he’s gotten smarter about knowing that while a change we make could help him in the short run, he needs to think about how that change is going to affect him long-term. He used to just know how to drive the snot out of the car and whatever we ended up with is what we ended up with. He’s gotten a lot better and learned a lot more about what the car needs for him to be successful.”