Ryan Truex maintained his position on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoff grid after a 16th-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in the UNOH 200 on Wednesday night. Truex and his HRE team head into the final two races of the NCWTS regular season holding a nine-point cushion.
In the two practices on Wednesday morning, Truex posted the 10th and 16th-fastest times, respectively. He advanced to the second round of qualifying and secured the 17th spot on the starting grid. Once the UNOH 200 went green after being delayed by inclement weather, Truex battled with a significantly tight handling condition that kept him near his starting position. The opening 55-lap stage at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” came to a rapid close with Truex finishing 20th.
Crew chief Scott Zipadelli gave Truex four tires and chassis adjustments to alleviate the tight condition under the subsequent Stage caution which flew on lap 57. During Stage 2, Truex’s Toyota Tundra began to swing to the loose side, and lost sufficient grip in the rear tires to mount a charge towards the front. He finished Stage 2 in 17th.
After another round of adjustments under the lap 111 caution at the conclusion of Stage 2, Truex made progress when he restarted 15th on lap 120. Truex moved into 12th position by lap 124 before reporting his tires were going away and losing grip. Truex made a final trek to pit road before the race’s Overtime finish, and took the checked flag in 16th position in his first NCWTS start at Bristol, one lap behind winner Kyle Busch.
Ryan Truex Quote:
“That wasn’t the type of run we wanted or expected tonight. We never hit the balance right on our Food City / Bar Harbor Toyota Tundra tonight. We started out with the front end being bound up in practice, and had to deal with being tight in the center most of the race. Zippy (Scott Zipadelli) made a lot of changes to get us better on pit road tonight, but we just jumped the fence on the balance too much and got loose. We were either way too tight in the center, or burned the rear tires us and it made it difficult to make either lane work. We wanted to give the folks from Bar Harbor and Food City a win tonight, but we’re in a playoff spot, and I feel great about our chances to run up front and hopefully win one of the next two races.”
HRE PR
