MATT PUCCIA NAMED CREW CHIEF OF NO. 16 3M SPRINT CUP TEAM

CONCORD, N.C. (July 11, 2011) – Matt Puccia will be the crew chief of the No. 16 3M Sprint Cup team at Roush Fenway Racing effective immediately. Puccia has been with Roush Fenway Racing since the end of 2004 and was most recently assigned to the research and development program. Prior to this season, Puccia was crew chief of the No. 98 Paul Menard entry throughout the 2010 Nationwide Series season, leading the team to 19 top-10 finishes and fifth place in the point standings.

(Pronounced like fuchsia the color but with a P.)

Puccia’s first role as crew chief at Roush Fenway came in 2006 with the No. 50 Camping World Truck Series team. He led the No. 99 Truck Series entry with driver Erik Darnell to a victory at Michigan in 2008 and finished fourth in the final point standings. In 2009 Puccia made the move to the Nationwide Series as crew chief for a partial schedule with Menard before the team raced full time in 2010.

“Matt Puccia has been a very effective and successful crew chief with the organization in both the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series,” said team owner Jack Roush. “Most recently he has led the research and development efforts for our superspeedway program which helped put David Ragan in victory lane in Daytona. This is a natural progression of our crew chief development and I have every confidence that he will do well in this new role. Greg Erwin has made a significant contribution to our engineering efforts and our program is better because of him.”

“I am excited for the opportunity to work with Matt Puccia,” added driver Greg Biffle. “Greg Erwin led this team to the Chase the past three years and I look forward to Matt doing the same.”

Erwin’s role in the organization will be announced at a later date.

BRIAN FRANCE STATEMENT
“While NASCAR was thrilled by the incredible response to our inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Kentucky, we also are extremely disappointed by the traffic problems and inconveniences endured by fans who wanted to be part of our races at Kentucky Speedway. NASCAR will be in close communications with Kentucky Speedway and Speedway Motorsports Inc. to see that they work to resolve the issues. This situation cannot happen again.”

KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
Kentucky Speedway Apologizes to Fans for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race Day Experience; Offers Ticket Exchange for Any Remaining 2011 SMI NSCS Event or 2012 Quaker State 400; Tickets to Remaining 2011 KYS Events

CONCORD, N.C. (July 11, 2011) – Kentucky Speedway, which is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., today issued the following statement regarding the fan experience at Saturday’s “Quaker State 400.”

“To those fans that were not able to attend the Quaker State 400, we offer our sincerest apologies,” said Mark Simendinger, general manager, Kentucky Speedway. “We’d also like to apologize to all of our fans who endured challenging conditions during our event weekend. As we said earlier, we’re committed to working with NASCAR, state and local officials and traffic experts to address Saturday’s traffic issues to ensure that we never have this type of experience again.”

“I would like to apologize on behalf of Speedway Motorsports to the fans who had tickets, yet due to logistical issues, were not able to attend the inaugural Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway,” said Marcus Smith, president and chief operating officer of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. “For those fans with tickets who were unable to attend Saturday night’s event, we will honor their ticket at any remaining 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at a Speedway Motorsports facility or the 2012 Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway.

“Our company has always been about enhancing the fan experience with first-class amenities and putting fans first. I feel terrible for the fans that had a bad experience at Kentucky Speedway and we are asking that they give us a chance to make it up to them. We are very thankful for the overwhelming fan support we had for this inaugural event. We learned some valuable lessons this past weekend and will do everything in our power to make sure we don’t have these issues again.”

The ticket exchange is good for the following events at Speedway Motorsports facilities while supplies last at each respective venue:

July 17 – New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Aug. 27 – Bristol Motor Speedway

Sept. 4 – Atlanta Motor Speedway

Sept. 25 – New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Oct. 15 – Charlotte Motor Speedway

Nov. 6 – Texas Motor Speedway

2012 – Kentucky Speedway

In addition to the ticket exchange, Kentucky Speedway will issue these fans an equal quantity of tickets to either its Oct. 1 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series 225-mile race or Oct. 2 IZOD IndyCar Series 300-mile event.

For information on ticket exchange and redemption, fans should only contact the Kentucky Speedway ticket office at 859-578-2300 or by email at tickets@kentuckyspeedway.com.