The NASCAR Xfinity Series made a stop in Thunder Valley for an under the lights special at the Last Great Colosseum of Bristol Motor Speedway. After a 25th place finish in the Spring race, Boyd was eager to experience his first Bristol night race.
Qualifying was challenging for the drivers as they faced extremely slick track conditions. Boyd would roll off from the 35th starting position for The Food City 300. The green flag waved and Boyd immediately went to work. The leaders set a blistering pace early, putting several good cars multiple laps down. On lap 71, leader Kyle Busch found himself in trouble, bringing out the first caution of the evening. Miller elected for Boyd to stay out and take the wave around to get one of his laps back. Stage one ended on lap 85 with Kyle Larson claiming the stage win and Boyd in the 30th position.
Miller called for four tires, fuel, and adjustments to help the Grunt Style Chevrolet rotate better through the center of the corner. The car was handling much better until on lap 105, the 01 of Vinnie Miller slid up in front of Boyd causing contact. The contact sent the 01 spinning and collected Boyd in the process. Bruised and battered, Boyd brought the damaged Camaro to the attention of his Grunt Style Gladiators. The crew patched up the car the best they could and sent Boyd back on track. Cautions would wave for the 60 of Chase Briscoe on lap 141 and again for the 01 of Vinnie Miller on lap 160. Stage two ended on lap 170 with Larson again picking up the stage win and Boyd up to the 28th position despite his damage.
Boyd’s goal for the final stage was to complete all the laps and try to capitalize on others misfortunes. He did just that. Boyd limped the wounded Grunt Style Chevrolet around the half-mile speedway for the entirety of the final stage, picking up three more positions. Kyle Larson scored the victory and despite all the damage, Boyd managed to score another top 25 finish.
After the race Boyd reflected, “That was a really tough night for our team. We were doing our best to be patient and get the car better, when we got into it with the 01. It’s definitely frustrating, but that’s just a product of hard racing at Bristol I guess. I can’t thank all my guys enough for their hard work this weekend and fixing the Grunt Style Chevy up the best they could. It’s pretty cool to walk away with another top 25 finish after all that.”
Despite facing all the attrition Bristol had to offer, Boyd extended his streak of top 25 finishes to nine of the last ten races with a 25th place finish. Boyd will remain 22nd in driver standings. The Xfinity Series will make their next stop at Road America next week for the final road course race of the month. Coverage of the Johnsonville 180 from Road America will begin Saturday August 25th at 3:00 pm ET.
Spencer Boyd Racing PR/Photo Credit Spencer Boyd Racing
