Jones' #4 car hit an embankment on the inside of the track, which ended up launching him into a higher ground that supports a bridge over the backstretch. The end result was a car launched 20 feet in the air and a total of 32 rotations in some fashion.
Spectacularly, Jones climbed from the car and ended up uninjured. "He's alright, was a bit shaken up but his vitals look good," crew chief Everette Miles said. "Had a lot of promise tonight and he was looking forward to it, but he's just glad to be alive." Following two more early cautions -- both of which involved Chasers with Kenny Knox taking a slide to the back of the field and Rogers making contact with Kyle Law that led to damage for the #44 car -- pit strategies were varied that put Ryan Kendall and playoff contender Jon Gilbert out front, but fresh tires and situational awareness allowed Steve Rea to take over the lead within a single turn. But the race was not over with a pit stop needed to get to the end. Rea made the first move and Shane Borlan snagged the lead from Robert Harrison before he could claim it himself, but the #60 suffered a slow pit stop that dropped him out of the top-10. NFRN Truck Series playoff contender Mike Simpson ended up with the flying stop that put his #74 car out in front. Dwayne Callaway also made gains towards the front of the field, but his efforts to pass Simpson and automatically qualify into the Round of 8 were harmful, as he'd fall from 2nd to 5th in the final laps of the race. Ultimately, it was Simpson's crew that gave the trucker his first NACS win and second overall NFRN victory. He had just qualified for his seventh NACS race in a row.
"I just tried everything I could at the end to sneak our way in," D. Callaway said. "I knew our point situation was alright so I did anything short of wrecking the car to go for it. I hoped the traffic would hold him up where I could make the middle work and it didn't happen."
Callaway's good finish still was a positive for the driver who entered the race below the cut line, as he moved to 5th with a 17-point cushion. Rogers' accident with Law would put him at the bump spot, two points behind Donnie Moore. Sparky the Sun Devil, Chris Harley, and Eric Van Arsdale finished no higher than 30th and lost more ground to 8th-place, putting them in dangerous position of missing the next round. With regards to the Rogers/Law accident, the NFRN stated that Law would not face further penalty, determining the wreck to be incidental. Law appeared to scrub off speed to avoid hitting the turn 4 wall. He is on probation through the next race at SimTel Park due to his accident with Rea at Peoria Motor Speedway.
Kenny Knox also posted a top-10 run in the last session, with three other playoff drivers posting a top-15 time. Donnie Moore went the opposite direction, going from 8th to 33rd with a drop-off of over a tenth of a second.
Here are final practice times from NASCOR: (playoff drivers in bold) 1) 19carfan - 23.513 (119 laps) 2) Dwayne Callaway - 23.537 (125) T3) Jason Thales - 23.540 (118) T3) Shane Borlan - 23.540 (123) 5) Craig Martin - 23.542 (125) T6) Kenny Knox - 23.546 (134) T6) Jake Thomas - 23.546 (119) T6) Anthony Lopez - 23.546 (115) 9) Andy Coleman - 23.551 (119) 10) Justin Rodeback - 23.554 (121) T13) Robert Harrison - 23.561 (130) T13) Chris Harley - 23.561 (123) T15) Kyle Law - 23.563 (131) T17) Sparky the Sun Devil - 23.564 (119) 25) Eric Van Arsdale - 23.582 (124) 26) Jon Gilbert - 23.584 (127) T29) Austin Rogers - 23.597 (120) 31) Conor Mays - 23.598 (123) 33) Donnie Moore - 23.603 (124) |
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