This Week’s Okuma Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Chicagoland Speedway
Ryan Newman will make his 601st Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start when the Series competes at Chicagland Speedway. In 16 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series events at Chicagoland Speedway, Newman visited victory lane in 2003. The “Rocket Man” also owns one pole award in 2002. In total, he owns four top-five and nine top-10 finishes. The South Bend, Ind., native has an average start of 10.9 and average finish of 14.7. In the last 10 events at Chicagoland, Newman ranks sixth in most driver points earned.
Okuma Onboard … Okuma America Corporation has been a valuable partner of Richard Childress Racing for almost 20 years and will be the primary sponsor on Ryan Newman’s No. 31 Chevrolet.
Okuma is the U.S.-based sales and service affiliate of Okuma Corporation, a world leader in CNC (computer numeric control) machine tools, founded in 1898 in Nagoya, Japan. The company is the industry’s only single-source provider, with the CNC machine, drive, motors, encoders, and spindle all manufactured by Okuma. The company also designs their own CNC controls to integrate seamlessly with each machine tool’s functionality. In 2014 Okuma launched the Okuma App Store, the industry’s only centralized online marketplace for machine tool apps and related content. Along with its extensive distribution network (largest in the Americas), and Partners in THINC, Okuma is committed to helping users gain competitive advantage through the open possibilities of machine tools, today and into the future. For more information, visit okuma.com/americas or follow us on Facebook or Twitter @OkumaAmerica.
Featured Okuma Customer … GereMarie Corporation, founded by Jim Schultz, is an integrated design, engineering and manufacturing company specializing in aluminum machining and fabricating. GereMarie began in 1995 with one single CNC machine and one single employee. Today, GereMarie has grown to include over 190 CNC machining tools and a team of over 120 employees. GereMarie is located in Lake Zurich, Illinois, in a state of the art 160,000 square foot facility.
OPEN HOUSE … The Caterpillar Visitors Center will welcome the No. 31 Caterpillar Camaro ZL1 driver Ryan Newman and team owner Richard Childress on Monday, July 2, 2018, from 10 a.m. CST until 12 p.m. CST. Tickets are needed for admission to the Newman and Childress autograph session and includes the launch of the newest exhibit, SPEED. Tickets are limited to the first 150 people and are $7 per person. Discounts do not apply to this event. For tickets and details, visit caterpillar.com/en/company/visitors-center/exhibits/speed.html.
RYAN NEWMAN QUOTE:
What are the challenges that Chicagoland Speedway presents to you?
“Chicago is just a big circle. It’s important to keep the Caterpillar Chevrolet turning and on the gas. Those two things are super important more so than other tracks we compete. Also, the track has some character bumps so any kind of breaking of momentum at a track with its configuration is important so having a car that can ride over those bumps well is so important.”