Ryan Reed’s No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford took on a different look in honor of NASCAR’s throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway. Reed honored Alan Kulwicki, his father’s favorite driver, Saturday afternoon. During the race, Reed was able to capitalize on fresh tires to race his way up to 11th, but contact on pit road impeded his forward momentum. Despite an extra pit stop for left front fender repair, Reed rebounded to finish 15th.
“I think the biggest thing we fought was track position,” said Reed. “At times we had a pretty good car, but we played the game with tires trying to get track position. I think it worked, but we got hit leaving pit road and had to come down and kind of abort all the track position that we had just got. It’s unfortunate. We still had some bad luck, but to persevere and finish 15th after getting mired back like that was still a good day. I appreciate everyone on the race team and we’ll get them next week.”
Reed started the race 17th in his No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford and lost a few positions while battling a tight handling Ford. The tight handling plagued Reed over the course of Stage 1 and when the caution waved ending the Stage he was scored 22nd. Reed pitted for four tires, fuel, track bar and air pressure adjustments.
Reed started Stage 2 from the 17th position and the handling improved with the adjustments before shifting to the loose side. Crew chief Phil Gould called Reed down pit road under a caution on lap 72 for tires and adjustments. Reed was able to use the fresh Goodyears to his advantage and drove his way up to 11th to close out Stage 2.
Reed pitted from the 11th position at the conclusion of Stage 2, but contact on pit road damaged the left front of his Ford. Reed had to make an extra trip down pit road to clear the left front fender from the tire. Reed restarted from the 30th position and began working his way through the field.
The conclusion of the race was filled with cautions, but Reed was able to avoid them all. Reed took the green for the final green-white-checkered finish from the 17th position and worked his way forward to earn a 15th-place finish at Darlington.
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