Blake Koch at Phoenix Raceway… Blake Koch has 12 previous starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) at Phoenix Raceway. His best start (fourth) and finish (eighth) at the track came in November 2016. His eighth-place finish at Phoenix Raceway also ties his career-best NXS finish. In this race last season, Koch finished 16th after starting 12th.
Koch also recorded a top-10 in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West event at the track in 2009. He finished seventh after starting 15th.
Sounding Off- Blake Koch… “Phoenix is one of my top-three favorite racetracks we go to. It was our best track last year and we have a lot of data this year from our RCR teammates testing there over the offseason. Both ends of this track are so different, but I would say the most difficult part of the track is Turns 3 and 4 because the spotters can’t see that well when the drivers are down on the apron. The pace is slower down there as well. It’s just an awesome track and I can’t wait to see what they do with the redesign next season.”
2017 Season… Koch is currently 13th in the NXS Championship standings after gaining six spots in the standings last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS). At LVMS, Koch started 19th and persevered to finish 12th, a career-best finish at the track.
Experience on the Box… Veteran Crew Chief and Kaulig Racing General Manager Chris Rice has served as crew chief during 12 previous NXS races at Phoenix Raceway. He has recorded two top-10 finishes in the NXS as well as four laps led.
Blake Koch NXS Career… Koch makes his 200th NASCAR National Series start this weekend at Phoenix Raceway. The race marks Koch’s 184th NXS start. Koch also has six career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts and 10 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts under his belt. 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).
Tune-In… The NXS DC Solar 200 from Phoenix Raceway will be televised live Saturday, March 18th, 2017 at 4 p.m. ET on FOX 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.
