Keep Climbing … Chase Purdy has been steadily climbing the standings in each of his three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts this season. The driver of the No. 61 BAMA Buggies Toyota Tundra TRD Pro has gained 22 positions in the championship standings to move into a tie for 18th in the past three events. The Meridian, Miss. driver looks to continue his climb up the standings on Thursday evening at Martinsville Speedway, the site of his Camping World Trucks debut in 2018.
Career Bests Keep Coming … Purdy has made significant strides forward in two of his first three starts in the No. 61 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro with HRE. After collecting a 14th-place finish in his season debut at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Purdy has scored track-best finishes in back-to-back events at Atlanta Motor Speedway (14th) and Circuit of the Americas (16th). He’ll look continue that trend at the “Paperclip” on Thursday night and out-perform a 21st-place result that he recorded in his debut at Martinsville in October 2018.
Short Track … Short tracks have been a strong suit for Purdy over the course of his young career. The 22-year-old earned the biggest win of his career in the Snowflake 100 at the half-mile 5 Flags Speedway in December 2018. While he is still looking for his first top-10 finish on a short track in Camping World Trucks competition, Purdy cemented a solid resume on short tracks in his ARCA Menards career. In 37 combined starts between the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East, Purdy compiled 10 top-five and 15 top-10 finishes on short tracks, along with pole awards at Memphis International Raceway, Berlin Raceway, and Thompson Speedway.
Chassis Selection … Crew chief Matt Lucas and the BAMA Buggies team have prepared chassis No. 020 for Purdy’s first trip to Martinsville with HRE. This truck is new to HRE’s stable and has been outfitted with a fresh Toyota Tundra TRD Pro body.
Tune In … All on-track action from Martinsville will be carried live on FOX Sports 1, beginning with practice and qualifying at 3:00 p.m. ET on Thursday followed by the green flag at 8:00 p.m. ET. Stay connected with the No. 61 BAMA Buggies team by following @Hattori_Racing on Twitter, @hattoriracing on Instagram, and Hattori Racing Enterprises on Facebook.
Chase Purdy Quote:
On the first short track of the season:
“Like a lot of guys, I grew up short track racing and I’ve always felt comfortable on short tracks. We were having a good run early in the race last season at Martinsville before we had an issue, so I have a lot more confidence going there this time around, knowing I had a good pace last year. The guys have been putting in a ton of effort on our BAMA Buggies Tundra TRD Pros, so we’d love to get our first top-10 of the season on Thursday. Martinsville is always a real physical race with a lot of close-quarters racing. We’ll have to take care of our Tundra TRD Pro and make sure we have something to race with at the end of the night.”
HRE PR
