Daniel Dye finished his night at Kansas Speedway with a ninth-place finish to give himself back-to-back top-10 results for the first time in his NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) career. Dye has three top-10 finishes this season, all of which have came at 1.5-mile tracks. With leading laps and a 10th place finish in Stage 1 for a total of 29 points, Dye now sits only one point shy from the cutoff line for the NCTS playoffs.
Dye’s posted time of 30.88 seconds in qualifying was good enough to start sixth for the Heart of America 200. The driver of the No. 43 Race to Stop Suicide Chevrolet Silverado RST found himself in fourth position in the first five laps. Dye was really tight during the green flag run and finished in 10th position at the end of stage 1 on lap 30. Under the caution Dye made his first pit stop where he received four tires, fuel, and a right rear spring rubber adjustment.
Dye restarted at the tail end of the field to begin Stage 2 after a speeding penalty down pit road.
In the first 10 laps of the second stage, he moved up to 21st position. Dye spent the remainder of the stage moving up and found himself in 17th on lap 60 at the end of Stage 2. Crew chief Blake Bainbridge made the call to bring Dye down pit road again for a track bar adjustment, four tires, and fuel during the stage caution period.
The No. 43 team had a picture-perfect stop resulting in Dye coming out of pit road 13th. Dye maintained his position until the green flag pit cycle midway through the final stage. Bainbridge made the call to keep Dye on track longer putting him in the lead on lap 96. Dye led three more laps until he made his pit stop on lap 99. With four tires, fuel, and a minor track bar adjustment he came out of pit road in 13th. Dye’s adjustments helped him gain several positions and finished his night in ninth position. With that result he earned his third top-10 result this season with all three coming from 1.5-mile tracks. Dye currently sits one point behind the cutoff from a playoff spot with 191 points on the season.
Daniel Dye Quote:
“Started off way too tight, but with good communication with Blake (Bainbridge) we made the right change to our truck. Unfortunately we sped and had to go to the back, so we had to put our heads down and get back in the game. Great pit stops, great fight out of the team and we were able to give our No. 43 Race to Stop Suicide team another top-10. I’m glad we were able to dig out of the hole I put us in and had a pretty good points day.”
McAnally Hilgemann Racing PR
