Chad Finchum Set To Run Double Duty at Bristol

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

Knoxville, Tennessee native and Xfinity Series regular Chad Finchum announced at a promotional event on Wednesday that he’ll be making his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut at Bristol Motor Speedway April 15 for Carl Long’s MBM Motorsports.

It’ll mark MBM’s first Cup start since the 60th Daytona 500 when 66-year-old Mark Thompson finished 22nd.

Finchum said he’s blessed that Long has confidence in him despite running 12 Xfinity Series races in a span of two years.

“I’ve been blessed with opportunities to run NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR K&N Pro Series races at Bristol Motor Speedway over the past few years, but I’m very excited at getting to fulfill a childhood dream of being able to run a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at BMS,” said Finchum. “To be quite honest, at this early in my NASCAR career I wasn’t really expecting to be able run a Cup Series race. I’m just very thankful to Carl Long and MBM Motorsports for having the confidence and faith in me to drive their race cars.

“We had some pretty good runs last year with MBM Motorsports and being able to put together a deal over the winter to run this season with Carl in the NASCAR Xfinity Series is just awesome. All I ever wanted was just to have a shot to race in the upper-tier levels of NASCAR, and I just can’t thank Carl enough for the opportunities he’s given me.”

In addition of running at his home track, Finchum will also have Smithbilt Homes as his primary sponsor for both the No. 66 in Cup and No. 40 Toyota Camry in Xfinity.

“Smithbilt Homes has really stepped up to help me be able to race these past couple of years,” Finchum added. “We met the people from Concrete North Inc. back in February at Daytona, and we’re pleased to announce they’re onboard with us for both the Cup and Xfinity races at Bristol Motor Speedway.”

Although the 23-year-old sits 37th in the Xfinity Series standings, he’ll look for similar success at the “World Fastest Half-Mile,” where he scored a career-high 28th last August in his only prior start.

Finchum equaled that feat in the season opening Powershares QQQ 300 at Daytona February 17th.

Since Long’s return to NASCAR, the No. 66 team made one start at a track less than a mile with himself running at Martinsville last November, finishing 36th.