No. 41 Niece Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Bayley Currey | Crew Chief: Cody Efaw
– Key Takeaway: Bayley Currey and the No. 41 Niece Equipment team put together a respectable night in Indianapolis. The team showed promise early on in practice, where they were posted fifth fastest, but started in 22nd. The team made changes that helped gain him positions after the conclusion of stage one, and he would go on to run 14th the following stage through the finish of the race. This was the solid run they needed to help turn around their momentum.
– Bayley Currey’s Post-Race Thoughts: “It was a solid night tonight. We’re treading in the right direction here for sure. From going from a few DNFs, to a 17th last week, to 14th tonight, we’re getting better. IRP definitely lived up to all the hype, that was the most fun racetrack I’ve ever been on. We fired off too loose, but managed to get it back and tighten it up. We made a big charge through the field, so huge thanks to everyone at Niece Motorsports, the No. 41 team, and all the fab guys back home. We’ll take what we learned tonight and just keep getting better.”
No. 42 J.F. Electric / Utilitra Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Matt Mills | Crew Chief: Jon Leonard
– Key Takeaway: Matt Mills and the No. 42 team fought through early adversity at IRP. Mills spun and sustained heavy left front damage in practice, and subsequently was not able to post a qualifying lap. Mills fought a tight-handling truck for the majority of the race, but continued to gain positions through stage one and two. Through several adjustments, the team continued to make big swings at it on every pit stop. Ultimately, the group would wind up with a 22nd-place finish after starting 34th on the day.
– Matt Mills’ Post-Race Thoughts: “I kind of put us in the hole there by not getting much practice with the slight spin. We had to start in the back and go off of what our teammates were saying. I felt like our team did a good job of getting all the damage repaired; it felt like they had everything within a 1/16th of an inch close. Honestly, I felt like we kind of missed the setup tonight. We could never really get the track position we needed, never got our truck handling as good as it should have, and just struggled. I felt like it was hard to make the changes to get us back where we needed to be. We’ll pick ourself up and take this opportunity to prepare for Richmond, which has been a good track to me in the past.”
No. 44 Power Plus Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Conor Day | Crew Chief: Wally Rogers
– Key Takeaway: In his first Truck Series short track race at IRP, Conor Daly had to overcome issues early on. In practice, a rear gear seal issue prevented him from making a qualifying attempt, which forced him to start shotgun on the field. Daly continued to learn throughout the night, and climbed up into the top-25 before debris cut his right front tire. After the issue, his truck would go a couple of laps down, resulting in a 29th-place finish.
– Conor Daly’ Post-Race Thoughts: “Honestly, working with Stevie Reeves, my spotter, was super helpful today. I think the first stint was mainly just for me to learn a little bit. Then we got back on the lead lap, and once we took the green again, we were ripping. We were passing a ton of trucks out there and were really fast, and it felt so good. I followed Bayley (Currey), my teammate, there, and he was really cool to follow through when we ripped the top side. That was awesome, but then obviously when our right front went down, that basically ended our race. When we put on the right sides after the flat, it was a really fun next stint because we started to pass those trucks again. But, we were just never really as competitive as where we were before that. I think it was really fun. Everything has to be perfect when you want to go out there and put together a good finish, but I thought it was a great learning experience for me tonight.”
No. 45 Designated Drivers Are Legendary Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Ross Chastain | Crew Chief: Phil Gould
– Key Takeaway: Ross Chastain was in for an eventful start to his day at IRP as he narrowly made it to the track just in time for practice. Chastain would go on to start 16th in the race, but quickly found pace in stage one. After taking his first set of tires with a handful of laps to go in the stage, Chastain’s truck rocketed to the front. He would finish sixth in both stages, but a miscue on pit road would hamper his running position in the final stint. In his final start of the year with Niece Motorsports, Chastain would go on to finish eleventh.
– Ross Chastain’s Post-Race Thoughts: “It was really cool to come back to IRP tonight. It’s well-documented, but this was where I ran my first NASCAR race at. I had a lot of flashbacks and memories from the first time I raced here. As for the race today, we got the truck better from the start of practice through the end of the race. We were tight, but when we got it turning better I was able to go forward on restarts. It was fun to make moves and run different lines to get leverage on some guys. On the last pit stop, I basically drove past my stall before I turned in, so I had to back up there and really made it tough on the pit crew. It basically threw all their timing off, so we went from sixth to the mid-teens and couldn’t recover. There’s still some things we need to work on fundamentally to make the truck last throughout the entire run, but there’s a really solid group here. With Kaden (Honeycutt) and Connor (Mosack) taking over the rest of the year, I feel really good for them. In all the races I’ve ran this year, we’ve gotten better, so it’s going to be fun to watch and cheer them on the rest of the year.”
Niece Motorsports PR
