Purdy Records Career-High Road Course Run at Sonoma

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Chase Purdy scored his career-best road course finish at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday afternoon with a 15th-place result. The driver of the No. 61 BAMA Buggies Toyota Tundra TRD Pro continued his consistent summer streak with his third consecutive top-15 finish and scored 30 points, 10th-most of all competitors in the field. He remains 15th in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series point standings after 12 of 16 regular season races.

Purdy’s march to score the 10th-most points in wine country started from the 25th position. He instantaneously advanced forward in a methodical manner over the opening 20-lap stage. The Meridian, Miss. driver was scored 22nd at the end of Stage 1 on lap 20 and came to pit road under the ensuing stage caution for four tires, air pressure and track bar adjustments to aid a tight handling condition.

As Stage 2 went green on lap 26, Purdy restarted 19th after efficient pit work by the HRE team gained three positions on pit road. His advancement forward reached the top-15 on lap 27 and joined the top 12 on lap 39. Crew chief Matt Lucas elected to keep Purdy on track as green flag pit stops began to unfold in the latter portion of Stage 2. That strategy call proved fruitful as Purdy collected eight points in third position on lap 45. His highest stage finish of the season which also marked the second-consecutive week of posting a top-five stage result.

Purdy made his final pit stop under the lap 46 stage caution for four tires, fuel, and additional adjustments and rejoined the field in 22nd. His forward progress plateaued until a caution at lap 61 allowed Lucas and the BAMA Buggies team to employ another bold strategy play. Purdy was one of three lead lap competitors that stayed on track and restarted third on lap 65. Despite a tire discrepancy to most of the lead lap trucks, Purdy valiantly fought for position inside the top 10, and restarted on the fringe of top-10 for the final restart on lap 74. The strategy call to stay out proved to be a net-gain as Purdy took the checkered flag in 15th for his third straight top-15 finish, and his fourth in the last five races.

Chase Purdy Quote:

“I’ve really had to work at road course racing, so to come out of here with a top-15, I’ll take it. The guys on our BAMA Buggies Toyota Tundra TRD Pro did a great job adjusting on our truck this weekend and we had some pretty good long run speed. We made progress every run, and but kind of stalled out after halfway. We got back there around 20th and couldn’t really go anywhere until that caution came out with about 15 to go. Matt made a good call to stay out, because that bought us a lot of track position and wound up finishing better because of it. We keep making progress every week and we’re really starting to be more consistent. Hopefully we can continue that next week on dirt at Knoxville.”

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