The final stretch run of the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series begins on Friday night at Kansas Speedway for Chase Purdy and the No. 61 team. Purdy looks to seize the momentum he’s built over the last five races to avenge his result from the May event at Kansas. The driver of the No. 61 BAMA Buggies Toyota Tundra TRD Pro finished 13th in the Heartland in May after running inside the top-10 for much of the event and is poised to out-perform that effort on Friday night. He brings a substantial amount of momentum to the Midwest plains after delivering four finishes of 14th or better in the past five races.
Intermediate Strength … The Meridian, Miss. driver has showcased his best performances this season on intermediate tracks, including at Kansas earlier this spring. In the past six races on intermediate venues, Purdy has tallied top-15 results five times, including his two best finishes this year, 10th at World Wide Technology Raceway and 11that Pocono Raceway. After running inside the top-10 after halfway in Kansas’ May event, Purdy rallied from 21st in the late stages after a pit road penalty to record a 13th-place finish.
Special Guest Ride Along … Purdy will have a special guest riding along on the left side door on Friday night courtesy of the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation and the NASCAR Foundation’s “Honor a Cancer Hero” program. James W. Bennett is a cancer survivor and served in Vietnam as a crew chief for 240th Helicopter Assault Company. He was nominated to ride with Purdy by his daughter Kelly Evans and the HRE team is thrilled to have him ride on board on Friday night.
Season to Date … After 18 of 23 events have been completed in Purdy’s sophomore season and he remains 15th in the championship points standings. He’s recorded a career-high 11 top-15 finishes and has an average finish of 17.2.
Chassis Selection … Crew chief Matt Lucas and the No. 61 team have prepared chassis No. 018 has they return to the plains of Kansas. Purdy most recently drove this Toyota Tundra to an 11th-place finish at Pocono Raceway on July 23rd, his best result at the 2.5-mile tri oval. Chassis No. 018 has four consecutive top-15 finishes to its credit, including the 13th-place result at Kansas in May.
Tune In … FOX Sports’ coverage from Kansas begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on Friday with practice and qualifying on FOX Sports 2. Race coverage switches to FOX Sports 1 beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET with NASCAR Raceday, followed by the green flag at 7:30 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 maintaining his momentum at Kansas:
“I think we’ve done a good job at being consistent with our finishes as the season has gone on. I think the spring race at Kansas was probably our best effort in terms of raw speed. We probably should have had our best finish if not for my mistake on pit road. I’ve had this one circled for a while. All the guys on our 61 team have done a great job preparing our trucks this year, and we’ve been fast with this BAMA Buggies Toyota Tundra TRD Pro every time we’ve brought this chassis to the track. I have a lot of confidence that we can go out there and run in the top 10 and get our best finish of the year on Friday.”
HRE PR
