Chase Purdy turned in his best result at Nashville Superspeedway (NSS) on Friday night with a 13th-place finish. The driver of the No. 61 BAMA Buggies Toyota Tundra TRD Pro delivered his eighth top-15 result of the 2022 season to extend his career high mark and remains 15th in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings.
Purdy began his second appearance in “Music City” from the 20th position and immediately wrestled with a loose handling condition in his Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. The Meridian, Miss. product battled with the balance throughout the duration of the opening segment and was scored 18th at the end of Stage 1 on lap 45. Crew chief Matt Lucas and the No. 61 team went to work by supplying Purdy with four tires and fuel along with a left rear spring rubber and wedge adjustments under the stage caution.
The adjustments aided Purdy as he maintained possession of a top-15 position after staying out during a caution flag on lap 69. Purdy restarted 14th on lap 74 and climbed to as high as 11th on lap 75. The strategy play to stay on track proved to be a net gain as he was scored 17th at the end of Stage 2 on lap 95.
In the event’s final stage, Purdy methodically marched his way up the leaderboard after restarting 19th on lap 101. A caution on lap 119 allowed him to take his final set of fresh tires, which accelerated his progression through the field. He rejoined the top-15 by avoiding a multi-truck accident on lap 127 and ran as high as 12th on lap 147. Purdy took the checkered flag in 13th position to earn his best finish in two starts at NSS and earned his fourth top-15 finish in the last five races.
Chase Purdy Quote:
“We faced a lot tonight, but I’m proud of this group for staying with it for another top-15. We started off really loose with our BAMA Buggies Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, but Matt (Lucas) and the guys kept at it with the adjustments throughout the night and we got the balance better. We had to hit the reset button after halfway, reset our focus and it helped. We were able to take advantage of some of those restarts towards the end and we ran the best we had all night in the last 25 laps or so. We’re consistently a top-15 team and we need to keep building towards those top-10’s on a consistent basis and I think we can get there. We’ll take a week off to regroup and get back to road course racing in a few weeks.”
HRE PR
