Texas Motor Speedway was the last scheduled track for Spencer Boyd in the 2017 season. Going into the race with 13 NASCAR starts under his belt, Spencer’s goals were to learn what makes this 1.5 mile tri-oval different than others and improve his lap times.
“Sometimes people refer to the mile and a halfers as cookie cutters,” smirked Boyd. “I can assure you they are not. Each one has their own character and Texas didn’t disappoint in that category. This track is fast. You go from a one groove track in one and two into a wide open free for all in three and four. The surface is very clean with the repave so the tire fall off was minimal and we could work on improving our lap times as the race went on.”
Boyd qualified 36th for the 300 mile event. When an early caution flag came out for Dillon’s No. 3 car on lap nine, Boyd’s slick maneuvering had gained him five spots already. Jason Miller called for a splash of gas and sent Boyd out to make gains on his lap times through the remainder of stage one. Erik Jones won the first stage with Spencer coming in 32nd.
The second stage would see three caution flags be displayed for accidents. With Brandon Jones, Angela Ruch, and Christopher Bell all separately finding trouble in this stage, Boyd would capitalize and move up to 29th. Erik Jones would again hold off Larson to win stage two, but would lose the subsequent race off pit road to Ryan Blaney.
Boyd would take four fresh Goodyears to start the third and final stage of the race. With a few minor changes to the car and some clean runs, Spencer would run his fastest time of the weekend on lap 100. He was able to maintain these times for the remainder of the race during the 75 lap green flag run to finish the event. Erik Jones went on to win the race with the Grunt Style Camaro finishing 29th.
Afterward, Spencer reflected on the race and season, “I felt like I improved all weekend and that I accomplished what I set out to do in Texas. That’s really what it’s been about all season. I have to keep things in perspective. Every driver out here grew up winning races, but the playing field at this level is just so high…I need to walk before I can run. Trust me…I’ll be running in due time.”
The next scheduled NASCAR race for Spencer is February 17, 2018 at Daytona International Speedway to start the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series season and his first full year of NASCAR competition.
TNB Sports PR/Photo Getty Images for NASCAR
