No. 20 Ruud Toyota News and Notes
Welcome to Atlanta: Christopher Bell and the No. 20 Ruud team will continue their 2018 campaign at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) this weekend, making their first start of the season at a 1.5-mile track. Despite making hisfirst-career Xfinity Series start this weekend at the Hampton, GA facility, Bell has a successful track record at AMS, with one win, one top-five and one top-10 finish in two-career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) starts at the 1.5-mile facility. Bell captured his win last season to jump start his NCWTS Championship run.
Another New Look: The Ruud brand will make its first appearance on the No. 20 Toyota Camry this weekend when it hits the track on Friday at AMS. Ruud, part of the Rheem family of quality brands, provides heating, cooling and water heating products for residential and light commercial use.
Daytona Recap: The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) rolled into Daytona International Speedway for the Powershares QQQ 300 and the opening race of the 2018 season last weekend. Sporting a brand new Rheem paint scheme which was intended to say “thanks to NASCAR fans for allowing us to support the sport you love”, Bell rolled off 13th for the scheduled 120-lap event. While running two-by-two in the draft on lap 10, another competitor lost control of his car, crashing into the left front of the Rheem Camry, ultimately ending their day and relegating them to a 39th-place finish.
Joe Gibbs Racing at Atlanta: JGR has 40 NXS starts at AMS and has earned two wins, 11 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes. The championship-winning organization has won four poles with an average start of 9.0 an average finish of 12.3.
RACE INFO: The NXS race at AMS begins at 2:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, February 24, 2018. The race will be broadcast live on Fox Sports One, Sirius XM 90, and PRN Radio.
From the Cockpit
“I’ve been looking forward to Atlanta since we got on the plane to come home in Daytona. Our first race of the season didn’t go as we had hoped, but there isn’t a better place for us to get back on track than Atlanta Motor Speedway. We had a great test there a few weeks ago, and I feel like we learned a lot as a team. The asphalt is so worn that tire wear falls off quickly in a run. This makes it fun for us as race car drivers as well as for the fans watching in the stands and at home. Hopefully we can go out on Saturday afternoon, have a good run and get a good finish for Rheem, Ruud and everyone involved on this No. 20 team.” - Christopher Bell
About Ruud (www.ruud.com)
Ruud, part of the Rheem family of quality brands, provides heating, cooling and water heating products for residential and light commercial use. Founded more than 100 years ago by the inventor of the water heater, Edwin Ruud, Rheem acquired the Ruud Company in 1960. Today, Rheem continues developing Ruud products in its tradition of quality, reliability and durability.
