Chase Purdy earned a track best finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) with a 14th-place result on Saturday afternoon, matching his best mark of the season. The driver of the No. 61 David S. Gray: Found Love Toyota Tundra TRD Pro recorded his second consecutive top-15 finish which netted him six positions in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship standings.
The Meridian, Miss. driver began his second career start at AMS from the tail of the field after the No. 61 team needed to make adjustments following the morning practice. Purdy sliced through the pack and advanced to 23rd by lap two. As the opening 30-lap stage ran caution free, Purdy raced at the front of the second draft and finished Stage 1 in 26th. Under the stage caution, crew chief Matt Lucas brought Purdy to pit road for two right-side tires and fuel but was boxed in his pit stall and restarted outside the top-30 on lap 38.
Purdy quickly erased the deficit incurred on pit road and drove inside the top-20 when a caution flew at lap 50. The Mississippi driver made the most of a five-lap dash to finish Stage 2 and gained two positions to run 18th by lap 60. Lucas and the No. 61 team gave Purdy left side tires under the stage caution, which placed him 15th for the lap 67 restart. As three cautions littered the next 23 laps, efficient restarts allowed Purdy to advance well inside the top 10 and ran as high as seventh on lap 76.
A caution flag on lap 80 and allowed Purdy to make his final pit stop for fuel only and restarted 12th on lap 85. He ran as high as ninth on lap 87 and started 11th on the afternoon’s final restart on lap 107. Purdy restarted on the bottom lane for the final 29-lap run to the finish and kept touch with the lead pack until damage to the nose thwarted his progress. A hole underneath the right front headlight hampered Purdy’s handing and outright speed in the waning laps. Despite the damage, he maintained his position to finish 14th and collect his second straight top-15 finish.
Chase Purdy Quote:
“We had a couple issues early on pit road which set us back, which hurt because it was such a one-groove racetrack right around the top after the restarts. We found a way to get some track position back and ended up 14th. It’s not where we wanted to be. We had some things happen to the truck. We had a hole in the right front. The left rear took some pretty big damage, so that didn’t help our speed at all. All in all, I think we showed a lot of speed today and I’m really happy with how our David S. Gray HRE Toyota Tundra TRD Pro raced. We’ll get them in COTA (Circuit of the Americas) next week for our first road course of the year.”
HRE PR
