Chase Purdy’s first start at Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP) in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competition resulted in a 27th-place finish on Friday evening. The driver of the No. 61 AISIN Toyota Tundra TRD Pro maintained the 15th position in the drivers’ championship standings after his Camping World Trucks debut at IRP with six races remaining.
The Meridian, Miss. native showed early speed in Friday morning’s practice session by posting a top-10 speed in race trim but was forced to start at the tail of the field for an infraction in qualifying. Purdy shot up the leaderboard after the green flag dropped for the 200-lap event, climbing 11 positions in the first four circuits. As the opening stage progressed, so did a tight handling condition in Purdy’s machine, which halted his advancement and was scored 24th at the end of Stage 1 on lap 60.
Crew chief Matt Lucas and the AISIN team supplied Purdy with four tires, fuel, and significant adjustments to improve his balance under the stage caution. After restarting 25th on lap 71, a lack of rear security hampered Purdy’s effort on the ensuing run and ran in 22nd position at the end of Stage 2 on lap 120.
After previously short-pitting under a lap 107 caution before the Stage 2 conclusion, Purdy was able to stay out under the stage caution period and inherited the 18th position for a restart on lap 129. He ran as high as 16th, but soon began to suffer from an extremely tight condition in the middle of IRP’s flat, sweeping corners. Purdy reported he felt a significant tire chatter during the final 35 laps, and managed to bring the AISIN Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to the checkered flag in 27th position.
Chase Purdy Quote:
“It certainly wasn’t the night we wanted to have with our AISIN Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. We were pretty tight for most of the night and couldn’t really find what we needed in the center of the corners. Our tightness just got more severe in the last 50 laps or so, but we’ll go back home, see what we can diagnose and get ready for Richmond in a couple weeks.”
HRE PR
