Christian Rose ARCA Menards Series Iowa Speedway Atlas 150 Race Preview

AM Racing | ARCA Menards Series

Iowa Speedway | Atlas 150

Fast Facts

 

No. 32 AM Racing Team:

Driver: Christian Rose

Primary Partner(s): Department of West Virginia Tourism

Manufacturer: Ford Mustang

Crew Chief: Ryan “Pickle” London

Spotter: Trevor Monn

Chassis Intel: AMR Chassis No. A-232

Engine: Ilmor Racing Technologies

Notes of Interest:

Welcome Back: AM Racing returns to the ARCA Menards Series full-time in 2024 with sophomore Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) driver Christian Rose behind the wheel of the team’s No. 32 Ford Mustang continuing with Friday night’s Atlas 150 at Iowa Speedway.

The 2024 ARCA Menards Series will mark the first time that AM Racing has competed back-to-back full-time in the NASCAR-owned development series since three-time ARCA Menards Series winner Gus Dean drove for the organization during the 2017 – 2018 seasons, respectively.

Meet Christian Rose: Rose, a former Division 1 baseball player for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore has traded the glove and bat in for a steering wheel and helmet and has set achievable goals for his second full season of stock car competition aboard the team’s flagship No. 32 Ford Mustang.

Rose returns to the Statesville, N.C.-based team on the heels of his inaugural rookie ARCA schedule in 2023, which was highlighted by two top-five, 13 top-10 finishes, and the most laps completed by any ARCA driver last season at 2,550 of 2,624 laps or 97.2% throughout the 20-race season.

His strength of two top-five and five top-10 finishes in the final five races of the season vaulted Rose to third overall in the championship standings behind series champion Jesse Love and Andrés Pérez de Lara.

The 28-year-old also made two starts in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, respectively, with starts at Richmond (Va.) Raceway and the season-finale at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway.

He’s Back Too!: To help steer Christian Rose and the AM Racing team towards a championship in 2024, Ryan “Pickle” London will return to serve as crew chief of the No. 32 Ford Mustang this season.

London, a long-time NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series crew chief, returned to AM Racing in early 2023 after spending the 2020 season as the truck chief with the team’s Truck Series program. 

London has plenty of experience as a leader in the ARCA Menards Series, including guiding drivers Tom Hessert and Frank Kimmel to poles and leading Grant Enfinger to victories at Berlin (Mich.) Raceway and DuQuoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds in 2014.

In addition to the two wins as crew chief, the winning NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series crew chief has numerous ARCA top-fives and top-10 efforts to his credit.

Partner Support: The Department of West Virginia Tourism will serve as the primary marketing partner on Rose’s No. 32 Ford Mustang in Friday night’s Atlas 150.     

The Department of West Virginia Tourism promotes West Virginia as a leading four-season travel destination and top state to live, work and retire.

Known as the Mountain State, West Virginia is one of the most scenic states in the United States and home to thousands of acres of parks and public lands, including America’s newest national park and 45 state parks and forests.

In addition to its majestic mountains and rolling hills, West Virginia is full of rich historic sites, enchanting art galleries, charming towns and an immense sense of belonging found only in its heaven-like landscapes.

After running the Department of West Virginia Tourism winter paint scheme in the first four races of 2024, the AM Racing team will return to their new summer scheme for the 150-lap race this weekend. 

Squeaky Blue Clean: In March, AM Racing and Christian Rose proudly announced the addition of Blue Wolf as a partner to the team’s ARCA Menards Series platform for the remaining 14 races in 2024.

Originally created by a West Virginia coal miner and a chemist to clean and degrease mining equipment, Blue Wolf quickly became trusted as a proven product for getting the job done.

As miners began taking the product home, they soon discovered that Blue Wolf worked great on everything from removing grease and coal dust from carpets and work clothes to pressure washing houses.

Today, Blue Wolf offers a full line of cleaners and degreasers for household, automotive, and industrial use.

Blue Wolf will serve in an associate role for Friday night’s race.

Christian Rose ARCA Iowa Speedway Stats: Friday night’s Atlas 150 will mark Rose’s second ARCA start at the 0.875-mile short track, which is nestled in Newton, Iowa.

In his Iowa Speedway debut last year, the Martinsburg, W.V. native registered a track-best finish of seventh after starting ninth in the Calypso 150.

The performance for Rose was one of his 13 top-10 finishes achieved during his rookie ARCA Menards Series season.

Christian Rose Career ARCA National Series Stats: In 34 career ARCA National Series starts, Rose has earned four top-five and 16 top-10 finishes highlighted by a career-best third-place finish achieved at Salem (Ind.) Speedway in September 2023.

Additionally, Rose has showcased 23 top-20 finishes overall since 2022.

Since 2022, he has maintained an average finishing position of 13.0.

To The Point(s): Entering Iowa, Rose is sixth in the ARCA Menards Series championship standings, just eight markers behind ARCA Menards Series sophomore driver Kris Wright for fifth, with 14 races remaining.

Rose is 31 markers out of second place currently occupied by Greg Van Alst and stands 57 points in the arrears to championship leader Andrés Pérez de Lara

AM Racing stands a respectable ninth in the ARCA Menards Series championship owner standings. 

Slingin’ That Dirt: Since Daytona, Rose has been teamed up with AM Racing’s Dirt Division and has been getting experience behind the wheel of a Dirt Modified to strengthen his driving skills.

Rose will continue to participate in select Dirt Modified events as his schedule allows this season.

Thanks For Your Support: With 30 percent of the 2024 ARCA Menards Series season complete, AM Racing and Christian Rose would like to thank their associate marketing partners for their support: AirBox Air Purifier, Blue Wolf Cleaners, Flying Circle, Mobil 1 and Whitetail Smokeless.

Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway | General Tire 150 Race Recap: In the sixth ARCA Menards Series race of the season, Rose looked to turn a string of two frustrating races at Dover Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway around in the team’s backyard at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

Unfortunately, the team was plagued with more bad luck after contact with the wall early in the race caused suspension damage to the No. 32 Blue Wolf Cleaners Ford Mustang and left the team with a challenging 28th-place finish.

Follow on Social Media: For more on AM Racing, please visit AMRacingteam.com, like their Facebook page (AM Racing), or follow them on Instagram and X | Twitter @AMRacingNASCAR. 

For more on Christian Rose, please like him on Facebook (Christian Rose Racing), or follow him on Instagram (@christianroseracing) and X | Twitter (@CRoseRacing).

Christian Rose Quoteboard:

On Iowa Speedway: “I am extremely upbeat about returning to Iowa Speedway this weekend. My AM Racing team has been working their guts out getting cars together for this summer stretch. It’s unfortunate that we have had a rough tide in the last three races, but I am confident we can turn our luck around on Friday night.

“I am excited to be flying our summer West Virginia Tourism colors on Friday night, and hopefully, we can get this monkey off our back with our third top-10 finish of the season.”

Race Information:

The Atlas 150 (150 laps | 131.25 miles) is the seventh of 20 races on the 2024 ARCA Menards Series schedule. Practice is set for Friday, June 14, from 2:00 – 2:45 p.m. Group qualifying will begin at 3:00 p.m. The race is set for later in the day, scheduled to take the green flag shortly after 7:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. ET). The event will be televised live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) with the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM Satellite Radio (XM channel 391 | online channel 981) handling the radio waves. ARCARacing.com will also stream live timing and scoring throughout the entire weekend festivities. All times are local (CT).

About AM Racing:

AM Racing is a multi-tiered, multi-faceted Motorsports program headquartered in Statesville, N.C.

Established in December 2015, AM Racing is prided on faith, honesty and intelligent performance.

The family-owned team will compete in the ARCA Menards Series, the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN® Truck Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and various Dirt Modified events in its eighth year of competition.

The team has named Hailie Deegan, Christian Rose, and Austin Wayne Self as their primary drivers for the 2024 Xfinity, ARCA Menards Series, and Dirt Modified seasons, respectively.

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