Ryan Reed, driver of the No. 16 Drive Down A1C Lilly Diabetes Ford Mustang, capped off a consistent day with an 12th-place finish in the final race of the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series season at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“We had moments of where the car was really good,” said Reed. “In the second practice, we were really good at firing off and put it top of the board there, but we just couldn’t ever get it to turn across the center like we needed in our Ford Mustang to be competitive and compete up in the top 10 and top five all night.”
Reed’s team worked on the Lilly Diabetes DriveDownA1C.com Ford Mustang all weekend to improve handling, paying off when the team topped the speed charts in Friday afternoon’s final practice. Reed would again have speed in his Mustang Saturday morning, advancing to the final round of qualifying and securing the 11th starting position.
Speed in the Mustang was consistent throughout the race, with Reed finishing the first two stages in 10th and 11th place, respectively. With track temperatures changing as the race went on, Reed’s handling worsened and he faded to 13th midway through the stage. With no cautions in the final segment, all Reed could do was maintain his position, ultimately finishing the season finale 12th.
RFR PR
