Tyler Dippel Is Ready To Tackle Bristol Motor Speedway
Story By: MARK RETTE / RETTE JONES RACING – After nearly an eight-week hiatus to start the 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season, Rette Jones Racing and driver Tyler Dippel will compete in their second race of the month in Thunder Valley at the historic Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in Saturday afternoon’s Zombie Auto 125.
Race Information: Event: Zombie Auto 125, Saturday, April 22 at 4:00 p.m. Local Time Track: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway Group Qualifying: Friday, April 21 at 6:00 p.m. Local Time Track Length: 0.533-mile high-banked concrete oval.
Race Rewind, Greenville-Pickens Speedway: After a tough outing in the opening round at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway in February, Dippel and Rette Jones Racing recovered with a top-five finish in the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 on Apr. 8. After qualifying fifth, Dippel hovered inside the top-10 despite an ill-handling race car. A restart with two laps remaining allowed Dippel to surge from ninth to fifth to earn his career-best finish at the South Carolina short track.
Welcome Back To The Last Great Colosseum: Dippel invades the third race of the season looking to improve his inaugural run in Tennessee foothills from 2016. Last April, Dippel qualified 19th and overcame a mechanical issue to finish 17th driving for HScott Motorsports with Justin Marks.
Shockin’ On Top: JRi Shocks will serve as the primary marketing partner for Dippel and Rette Jones Racing this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Since its inception in 2007, JRi Shocks has utilized cutting edge technological advancements with over 100 years of collective experience in shock absorbers, hydraulics, and electronics to create high performance, high precision shock absorbers for the racing and automotive industry.
Getting Deep on Dippel: Dippel enters his sophomore season following a year of K&N competition under his belt. Last year, one win, one top-five and eight top-10 finishes allowed the New Yorker to finish third in championship points. He entered the stock car realm on the heels of a strong season in big block modified competition in 2015, where he became the youngest winner in the northeast area, while also earning Rookie of the Year honors in the DIRTcar Northeast Series. Dippel began his racing career at the age of seven, racing slingshot race cars, considered scaled down versions of dirt modifieds.
Dippel made his first full-size stock car start on asphalt in 2014. In 2015, he held the PASS Super Late Model national points lead throughout the season until the season finale, when a mechanical failure ended his race early. Additionally, he made three starts in the ARCA Racing Series, with a career-best of fourth at the tough Salem (Ind.) Speedway in Sept. driving for Lira Motorsports.
Meet Tyler: Dippel will meet and greet race fans during the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East autograph session on Saturday, Apr. 22 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in Lot C (weather dependent).
Bristol Motor Speedway Fast Fact: Opened in 1961 and hosted its first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on July 30, 1961 won by Jack Smith. It was originally names Bristol International Speedway until 1978 and was then renamed Bristol International Raceway until 1996 when it became Bristol Motor Speedway.
The Thunder Valley track was .500-miles from 1961-69 before becoming .527-miles for one year in 1969. In 1970, it became the familiar .533-mile track seen today. The concrete oval has 600-foot straightaways with five to nine degrees of banking on the front stretch and four to eight degrees on the backstretch. The turns are progressively banked from 24 to 28 degrees and the racing surface is 40 feet wide.
Contest Galore: Dippel’s team Rette Jones Racing is holding weekly social media contests to give away NASCAR K&N Pro Series East garage passes to join Dippel and the team on the sidelines.
“Like” the Tyler Dippel Racing and Rette Jones Racing’s page on Facebook to find out more and spread the message for multiple chances to win in 2017.
Stay Social With Tyler: For more information on Tyler Dippel, please check out TylerDippel.com, his Facebook page (Tyler Dippel Racing) or on Instagram @tylerdippel.
Dippel tweets too. Follow him @Tyler_Dippel.
Chassis Intel: Mark Rette, crew chief and co-owner of Rette Jones Racing has elected to bring chassis number 001 to the 0.500-mile paved oval this weekend. This Ford Fusion last ran at Greenville-Pickens Speedway earlier this month.
On concrete, this is the same automobile that Rette Jones Racing driver Dominique Van Wieringen ran at Bristol last year and finished third in the season-finale at Dover International Speedway last October.
Rette Jones Racing, Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Pre-Race Quotes: Tyler Dippel, driver of the No. 30 JRI Shocks Ford Fusion:
On Greenville-Pickens Speedway: “We definitely had a nice rebound from New Smyrna. We had some good speed at the beginning of a run, but we just couldn’t get that long run feel that we needed to contend for the win. That last caution really helped us earn a top-five finish.”
On Bristol Motor Speedway: “Bristol wasn’t one of my better tracks last year, but I’m looking forward to changing that this weekend. It’s a very demanding race track, which you must respect. If you don’t respect it, your day could be ruined. I know the Rette Jones Racing team had a very fast car last year and I’m looking forward to having the chance to drive it this weekend and get us another solid finish.”
On Unique Schedule At Bristol: “It’s unique being at Bristol because you’re there with the XFINITY and Cup teams. You want to have a good run and shine in front of those teams. You never know who’s watching. For us, we just need to go out there and try and duplicate our run from Greenville and getting ourselves back in this championship hunt.”
On Partnership With JRi Shocks “I’m really thankful to have the support of JRI Shocks this weekend. They have a huge presence in the K&N Series and I know their shocks will be key to success for us on Saturday. Maybe we’ll shock a few people with our first win of the year.”
Rette Jones Racing, Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Pre-Race Quotes: Mark Rette, crew chief, co-owner and mentor of the No. 30 JRi Shocks Ford:
On Greenville-Pickens Speedway: “I wasn’t satisfied with our performance at Greenville-Pickens Speedway. Even though we left with a top-five finish, we’ve got some work to do to make us better for the long haul. We’ve been at the shop working hard to make sure that we have a good driving car for Tyler when it counts the most.”
On Bristol Motor Speedway: “Rette Jones Racing has been very fortunate to have fast cars on the concrete tracks in K&N East competition and we hope for more of the same this weekend. I think Tyler learned a lot at Bristol last year and I think he’ll apply what he learned in a positive way with our No. 30 JRi Shocks Ford on Saturday afternoon.”
PRIOR RESULTS:
Tyler Dippel, Bristol Motor Speedway NKNPSE Performance Record:
| Race | Site | St | Fin | # | Sponsor / Owner | Car | Laps | Status | Led |
| 2016-04 | Bristol | 19 | 17 | 38 | East West Marine (Harry Scott, Jr.) | Toyota | 118/125 | running | 0 |
The Zombie Auto 125 (125 laps / 66.6 miles) is the third of 14 races on the 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East schedule. Practice begins for the two-day show on Fri., Apr. 21 from 2:00 p.m. – 3:25 p.m. Group qualifying is set for later in the day at 6:00 p.m. The race will take the green flag just after 4:00 p.m. on Sat., Apr. 22 following the NASCAR XFINITY Series Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300. The event will be televised on a tape-delayed basis on NBC Sports Network with an air date on Thurs., Apr. 27 at 11:00 p.m. ET.
