A gutsy restart by Rette Jones Racing (RJR) driver Spencer Davis paid off this past Saturday afternoon at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway as Davis was able to pass leader Sam Mayer on a restart with two laps to go and fended off Derek Kraus to claim his second career NASCAR K&N Pro Series East victory but the first triumph for Rette Jones Racing.
Davis returned to Victory Lane for the first time in nearly three and a half years, 1,181 days to be exact, while co-owner and crew chief Mark Rette saw the team’s hard work finally pay off with their breakthrough win on the heels of a stout performance a week prior at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
“Tried to intimidate (Mayer) a little bit coming to the line,” Spencer Davis said. “The only way you can beat him–the only way I think you can beat this car this year is to make the kid make a mistake. Being a veteran of this series, I feel like I’m exceptional at restarts […] you couldn’t have asked for a better performance right there.
“I’m so proud of this Rette Jones Racing team and all of our partners who have made this season a success. We felt like we were robbed of a win a couple of weeks ago at Bristol, and we were so mad about what happened so late in the race at Bristol – that nothing was going to steal our thunder and keep us out of Victory Lane at Gateway. It’s so refreshing.”
For Rette, a championship ARCA crew chief who paired with former driver Terry Jones at the beginning of the 2015 , the team has been close to victory in the ARCA Menards Series and multiple top-five NASCAR K&N Pro Series East finishes – but on Saturday afternoon, Davis, a NASCAR Next alumnus brought home the team’s first checkered flag.
“Man, this feels so good,” offered Rette. “Terry and I had this vision when we started Rette Jones Racing that we would be a successful operation. We’ve done everything that we’ve accomplished to do in racing expect win. Now, thanks to Spencer’s determination, we have our first checkered flag and trophy.
“We hope it’s the first of many and can’t wait to get to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in a few weeks.”
With the team’s back-to-back top-five finishes at Bristol at Gateway, Davis has propelled to third in the championship standings with two races remaining. While the championship may be out of reach, Davis is on-par to a career-best year in the K&N Series where he has championship finishes of eighth (2016) and ninth (2018) respectively.
“We just need to keep what we’re doing the next two races and see what happens when that checkered flag waves at Dover,” added Davis. “It’s great we’ve been able to move from sixth to third in points over the last couple of races and who knows maybe with some luck, we can get another position, but I also know that we have to fight for our current spot too.
“There’s plenty of hungry drivers who want to make a statement before the end of the year, including us – so we just need to keep our heads down and focused and hope this momentum keeps rolling.”
Next up for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East is a return trip to New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) for the running of the Apple Barrel 125 on Sat. Sep. 21, 2019.
Rette Jones Racing will return to action in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series on Sept. 13, 2019, for the running of the World of Westgate 200 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway.
In 42 career NASCAR K&N Pro Series East starts, Davis has earned two victories (Dominion (Va.) Raceway 2016, Gateway 2019), two poles, achieved 19 top-five and 31 top-10 finishes. He has also 364 laps led in event competition.
Davis also has eight NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS) starts to his credit – four in 2018 driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM), two in 2019 for Rette Jones Racing and one for Niece Motorsports. He earned three top-10 finishes including a career-best of seventh in his series’ debut at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
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