(photos courtesy Leon Hammack)
Blake Koch has six previous starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) at Auto Club Speedway (ACS). His best start (eighth) and finish (12th) at the track came in this race last season. In the March 2016 event, Koch persevered through two incidents of contact to finish 12th after coasting to the finish line, just short of enough fuel for a top-10 finish.
Sounding Off- Blake Koch… “You can run a lot of different lines here because it’s such a wide racetrack. Each seam has it’s own character and if your car is handing well, you can play around with the lanes to figure out what works best for you. We had speed here last year and should again with our fast ECR engines. It’s not one of my best tracks, but I learned to like it a little more last year.”
2017 Season… Koch is currently 11th in the NXS Championship standings after gaining two spots in the standings last week at Phoenix Raceway. At Phoenix Raceway, Koch started eighth and overcame contact, a late-race spin and a pit-road penalty to finish 13th.
Calling California Home… Kaulig Racing tire specialist Stephen Appell hails from Downey, Calif., which is just under 50 miles from ACS. Appell grew up attending races at Irwindale Speedway and spent some time behind the wheel of a late model at local tracks before moving to N.C. in 2014 to pursue a career in NASCAR.
Blake Koch NXS Career… Koch makes his 185th NXS start this weekend at ACS. To date, Koch has a career-best NXS starting position of second at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 2013), and a career-best NXS finish of eighth at Richmond International Raceway (April 2016), Bristol Motor Speedway (August 2016) and Phoenix International Raceway (November 2016).
Meet Blake…Koch and other NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers will sign autographs for fans in Auto Club Speedway’s Midway FanZone Stage on Friday, March 24th from 4:00 – 4:45 p.m. PT.
Tune-In… The NXS California 300 from ACS will be televised live Saturday, March 25th, 2017 at 4 p.m. ET on FS1 and will be broadcasted live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio channel 90.
Keeping up with Kaulig Racing… To receive up-to-date information on the No. 11 NXS team, follow @KauligRacing on Twitter as well as on the Kaulig Racing™ Facebook page, www.facebook.com/kauligracing, and the team’s website, www.kauligracing.com.
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About Kaulig Racing™
Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series team, owned by president and owner of LeafFilter Gutter Protection®, Matt Kaulig. Blake Koch, driver of the No. 11 Kaulig Racing™ entry, has more than 180 starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. Kaulig Racing™ currently has partnerships with some of America’s leading companies across a wide range of industries such as LeafFilter Gutter Protection®, Celsius, Salt Life and AQUAhydrate. To learn more about the team, visit KauligRacing.com.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON M YREDNECK!
