Following a strong performance in their most recent mile-and-a-half NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS) race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in May, Chad Finley Racing (CFR) heads to Kentucky Speedway eyeing a duplicate performance but with a top-10 finish in Thursday night’s Buckle Up Your Truck 225.
Set to make his fourth start of the season aboard his No. 42 Strutmasters.com | Air Lift Company | Auto Value Certified Service Centers Chevrolet Silverado, Finley is eager to prove his worth and showcase his team’s ability in their limited Gander Truck schedule.
“I’m ready for Kentucky,” said Finley who last competed in the Truck Series at Iowa Speedway last month. “I’m really proud of this Chad Finley Racing team. I don’t think everyone knows how crucial it is for a small team like ours to come out and compete against some of the powerhouses in the series.
“Even though we don’t have all the finishes to back up our on-track performances, people are taking notice and that’s the fuel for our fire to come to the track this week and contend for a top-10 finish.”
Finley credits the success to his Mooresville, N.C.-based team towards the endless efforts of his crew chief and team manager Bruce Cook. In addition to Trucks, Cook has been involved in the team’s driver development program which showed a top-10 finish in the K&N Pro Series East with Parker Retzlaff at Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park last month.
“Bruce is an absolute menace when it comes to working on race cars,” added Finley. “Anything he touches he wants it to be successful, no matter how many hours or days it takes. We’ve had fast trucks this season – but just circumstances that have kept us from being in the spotlight.
“I feel like we can go to Kentucky Speedway and be competitive. I saw at Chicagoland where qualifying was literally separated by a couple tenths of a second. For us, it will be making sure we use practice to our advantage – so we can get a good scope on what our truck will do for qualifying and then moving forward with the race.
“Even though I’ve never been there, I think we can do well. We just want to try and earn some stage points and contend for a top-10 finish. We’ve had a lot of support fromStrutmasters.com, Air Lift Company and Auto Value Certified Service Centers – so it would be great to reward them with our best finish of the year at Kentucky.”
While circumstances beyond the team’s control have forced them to adjust their intentions of running the full Truck Series schedule this season, team principal Jeff Finley explained that the team’s ability to regroup and run a partial schedule will ultimately prove to be the right decision.
“We’ve could have gone out and run every race this season, but it would not have been up to the standard we set forth every time we leave the shop and head to the race track,” sounded Jeff Finley.
“Chad Finley Racing prides itself on putting competitive equipment with an opportunity to win races. Now, that we’re able to pick and choose our races and we’re confident in our capabilities and look forward to the chance to showcase that not only at Kentucky Speedway but in future races no matter who is behind the wheel.”
Strutmasters.com, Air Lift Company and Auto Value Certified Service Centers will serve as the primary marketing partners for Thursday night’s anticipated thriller.
Since 1999, Strutmasters.com has served as an industry leader in suspension parts and air to non-air suspension conversion kits.
Finley also has additional support from Northsidetowing.net, XLT Engineering and Sunwest Construction LLC. for the 13th race of the season.
In addition to his eight prior Gander Truck starts, Finley, 27, has 20 ARCA Menards Series starts to his credit.
In his years of ARCA competition between 2009 and 2018 Finley has mounted one-win (Nashville 2017), eight top-five and 11 top-10 finishes, including a pole (track record) at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway in 2009.
Finley is the son of former ARCA winner and NASCAR driver Jeff Finley.
The Buckle Up Your Truck 225 (150 laps| 225 miles) is the 13th of 23 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series races on the 2019 schedule. Practice begins on Thurs., July 11 from 9:35 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. A final practice session is set for 11:05 a.m. – 11:55 p.m. Qualifying is set for later in the day beginning at 4:05 p.m. The 32-truck field will take the green flag shortly after 7:30 p.m. with live coverage on FOX Sports 1 (FS1), the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite Radio, Channel 90). All times are local (Eastern).
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