Mosack Motivated to Bounce Back and Kickstart His Season at AMS

Venue: Atlanta Motor Speedway

Event: Fr8 208

Date: Saturday, February 22

Location: Hampton, GA

Track Description: 1.54-mile quad oval

Distance: 135 laps, 207.9 miles (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, Motor Racing Network)

Bound to Bounce Back … The second date on the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series (NCTS) calendar provides Connor Mosack an immediate opportunity to restart his season at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS). The driver of the No. 81 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Chevrolet Silverado RST is bound to bounce back after a mechanical issue dampened his season opener at Daytona International Speedway a week ago. The North Carolinian has a formidable piece underneath him this weekend, as he is piloting the same Silverado RST that earned the pole position at AMS last year. Crew chief Blake Bainbridge and the No. 81 team tallied the first pole of 2024 for MHR at AMS and finished the weekend with a ninth-place result with the same chassis that Mosack will race on Saturday afternoon.

Atypical Intermediate … This weekend’s Fr8 208 marks the fourth year the NCTS competitors have tackled AMS’ reconfigured pseudo-superspeedway layout and will be Mosack’s first at the atypical intermediate venue. Despite being a twist on traditional 1.5-mile tracks, Mosack aims to display the exceptional ability he showed at similar venues last season. He qualified on the outside of the front row at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway in September 2024 and notched his current career-best finish of third at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October. Mosack will have 135 laps to mix his capability on 1.5-mile tracks with the known speed of his Chevrolet to begin his charge in the NCTS standings and pursue MHR’s second Atlanta victory.

1.5-Mile History … Mosack has one prior start at AMS, which came in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2023, the second season of the track’s higher-banked reconfiguration. His resume also includes a pair of victories at Kansas in the ARCA Menards Series, the most recent of which came in May 2024. Five of Mosack’s 12 NCTS starts have come at 1.5-mile speedways, three of which have resulted in top-10 finishes. 

Tune In … Action from “Hotlanta” begins with pole qualifying on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) at 3:00 p.m. ET Friday afternoon. Race coverage follows on Saturday afternoon with the green flag flying at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1. Stay connected with the No. 81 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation team by following @BMR_NASCAR on Twitter, @bmrnascar on Instagram, and Bill McAnally Racing on Facebook. 

Connor Mosack Quote:

On racing at AMS in the NCTS:

“It’s really nice that we get back to the track right away so we can forget about Daytona and give ourselves an opportunity to kickstart our year. Blake (Bainbridge) and this team had a super-fast Chevrolet at Atlanta last year, so I couldn’t be more excited for Saturday. It’d be nice to put our Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Silverado RST on the pole, just like they did last year, and hopefully keep ourselves in contention all afternoon. Atlanta is a little bit different style of drafting than Daytona or Talladega. You definitely need to have raw speed and be able to maneuver in the draft, but you need to have a really good balance as the runs go on. I think we should have a good package and if we manage the afternoon the right way, I think we can be one of the trucks to beat.”