Andy Lally will run the NASCAR Cup Sequence‘ 4 remaining highway course races for Rick Ware Racing, the group introduced Monday. He’ll race the #15 Ford Mustang with sponsorship from Tenting World. The primary race is Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, adopted by the Chicago Avenue Course on 2 July, Indianapolis Motor Speedway on 13 August, and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval on 8 October.
The sponsor deal got here collectively after Tenting World CEO Marcus Lemonis observed a tweet from Lally saying he had “a very cool alternative for the highway programs in Cup, however I want to search out slightly assist.” Lemonis beforehand additionally stepped as much as sponsor particular person vans when his firm held the naming rights to the now-Craftsman Truck Sequence.
“That is clearly an unimaginable alternative and I’m very grateful to Rick, RWR and Tenting World for making this all come collectively in a really quick period of time,” Lally stated. “So lots of my possibilities to race in NASCAR have been one-race offers. With 5 races now, I get to actually focus and embed myself with a group to develop a stronger communication and understanding of one another, in addition to studying what the Subsequent Gen automobile likes on highway programs.
“This all happened as a result of I wrote a observe throughout my social media channels explaining I had a chance to return to the NASCAR Cup Sequence. I used to be thrilled when Marcus Lemonis, CEO and Chairman of Tenting World, reached out and dedicated to all 5 highway course races with Tenting World as the first sponsor. It blew my thoughts. I can’t thank Marcus and the Tenting World household sufficient.”
Lally was the 2011 Cup Sequence Rookie of the Yr, however didn’t return within the sequence for a decade earlier than trying two races for Reside Quick Motorsports in 2021 and 2022. He retired from each races at Indianapolis and COTA in thirty-ninth.
Regardless of the ten-year absence from the highest degree, he remained a highway course ringer within the Xfinity Sequence, the place he has raced sporadically since 2014 with eight high tens and a finest end of fifth on three events. In 2022, he ran Portland for Alpha Prime Racing adopted by the highway programs for SS-Inexperienced Mild Racing with a finest run of fourteenth at Street America.
“After we first talked to Andy about driving a couple of races with our group, I used to be very primarily based on his spectacular highway course acumen,” group proprietor Rick Ware said. “When Tenting World needed to associate with us for the remainder of this 12 months’s highway course races, it was a simple resolution. Our group is wanting ahead to getting it began this weekend.”
The #15 is thirty-second in proprietor factors with Jenson Button, Grey Gaulding, Todd Gilliland, Riley Herbst, Brennan Poole, and J.J. Yeley splitting time. Button ran the primary highway race at COTA within the automobile and can be scheduled to take action at Chicago and Indianapolis, for which Lally will shift to RWR’s #51; he’s unavailable for Sonoma as he’s racing the 24 Hours of Le Mans in NASCAR’s Storage 56 entry. The #51 is a spot again within the proprietor’s standings with Cody Ware as the first driver earlier than his arrest and suspension; others to drive the automobile embrace Gilliland, Yeley, Matt Crafton, Ryan Newman, and Zane Smith.
