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Brandon McReynolds Looking For Back-To-Back NHMS Victories

www.arcaracing.com July 18, 2019

New Hampshire Motor Speedway will hold a special place in the heart of Brandon McReynolds–forever.

This weekend, the 28-year-old returns to The Magic Mile, looking to recapture some of that magic from last fall’s event, where he earned his first K&N Pro Series East victory and the first for Visconti Motorsports.

“The biggest memory was having my dad spot for me,” McReynolds told NASCAR.com of that weekend. “That was a really cool moment for us. On top of that, just getting on top of the car in Victory Lane, seeing the smile on John Visconti‘s face. He was really pumped up, it was such a special moment for our team. Johns‘s been through a lot in his racing career as an owner, coming from the modified and working his way into the K&N Pro Series, I know he‘s been through a lot of ups and downs. Really looking back on that day to see how excited he was, that was the coolest moment for me.”

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McReynolds’ pride in the victory came from beating the “Goliaths” as the “David” in the series. He was able to best Derek Kraus, driving a DGR-Crosley Toyota, on the final overtime restart to score the win. As one of the “older” drivers in the series, the win was a long time coming on the East coast.

“It was huge. When you can take a smaller team like VMS and go to work with Bruce Cook and all the people that were out there working on the car and beat DGR and MBM, that‘s what racing‘s all about,” he said. “Those are the stories and memories that you really hang on to and take a lot of pride in. Going out and winning when everything‘s perfect, thats one thing. But when you‘re kind of behind and you‘re trying to make up for lack of funding and all that, to go be successful is huge. Those kinds of wins are fun and those are the ones that mean the most to me.”

Racing-Reference: Brandon McReynolds Career Statistics

The Mooresville, North Carolina native’s 2019 season has been up and down. Positives have been two third-place finishes to begin the season at New Smyrna and Bristol. Negatives has been, well, not competing in any other races.

McReynolds’ full-time job as a driver coach for Noah Gragson takes priority over wheeling the No. 74 Chevrolet. He knows that, team owner John Visconti knows that, and the plan didn’t change despite sitting third in the championship standings, a mere six points behind the leader.

“When I got out, a lot of people were asking if we were going to keep going and I think John and I both agreed, with a little lack of sponsorship and my time being taken up with my full-time job working with Noah at JRM, it was going to be tough to pull off,” he admitted. “The first time watching K&N East cars compete after Bristol was really tough. That‘s difficult, but part of where we‘re at. I‘m fortunate John gives me the opportunity to run the races we‘re able to run and I feel like we go out there, get the most out of our weekends. We plan on doing the same this weekend in Loudon.”

NHMS and Bristol will be similar experiences off track for the 50+ race veteran. His coaching duties for Gragson were cut short in Tennessee and will be in the Granite State. After all, duty calls.

“When we were in Bristol, I was on the radio for a little while and I had to leave with about 50 laps to go in the Xfinity race so I could go put my suit on and go hop in the K&N car,” he recalled. “It‘ll be the same this weekend in New Hampshire. It gives me a good opportunity to learn and see where the track is going. Definitely will be paying extra attention and hopefully it‘ll pay off.”

McReynolds will be racing for more than just a checkered flag come Saturday afternoon. John Visconti’s father, “Cookie,” passed away early Wednesday morning. Visconti still plans to be at New Hampshire, business as usual, racing for dad.

But if McReynolds is to repeat his success from last fall, he’s going to have to beat the likes of three DGR cars, four BMR cars, two Rev Racing cars as well as series regulars Sam Mayer, Spencer Davis, Max McLaughlin, Colin Garrett and more.

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“It‘s going to be a stout field,” he said. “The amount of competition that‘s going to be there, those guys are going to be tough. Hopefully we can go up there and pick up right where we left off in Bristol with a good car. It‘d be huge to get another win at The Magic Mile. I like racing there, it always puts on a good show. We‘re going to have a lot of short run speed with the race only being 70 laps. You gotta be aggressive and see where it shakes out.”

The United Site Services 70 is scheduled to go green on Saturday, July 20 at approximately 6:45 p.m. EST. FansChoice.TV will have live coverage of the event.

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