"I'm not gonna lie, I was waiting that whole stretch to see if [Lindsay] was setting us up to make the move late, like on the last lap," #54 crew chief Herb Pierce said. "It surprised the hell out of me when he didn't go."
Lindsay was involved in the lone accident of the race when he squeezed Andy Coleman into points leader Chris Harley and spun the #49 out. Lindsay tapped Harley on the spin and possibly created damage that affected his aerodynamics. "Restrictor plate tracks have a tendency to do that, and we saw the problems Harley was having," #95 crew chief Russell Denton said. "I figure that contact we made had slowed us down that little bit we needed, and not pitting when everyone else stayed out was probably a wrong move by me to see if that was gonna affect us. The frontrunners in the points competition remained top-heavy in this race as a second points position was opened on McComb's win. Kenny Knox finished 3rd, Conor Mays 4th, and AJ Jones 7th. Knox and Mays now hold playoff spots on points pending the final five races of the regular season. "It'd be a lot better if we were two spots ahead of where we were, but it's all circumstantial," Knox said. "Consistency is important and even a ton of runner-ups will get us where we need to be."
"Our position really doesn't show where we can be," crew chief Ethan Tudur said. "A blown piston, a superspeedway crash, and a lot of crummy luck has been the story of our lives these past few races. In a couple cases, we were running great, and staying out of trouble puts us where we should be."
A duo of Western Motorsports teammates, Jason Thales and Jake Thomas, were the only drivers to place top-10 in both practice sessions. Here's how they stack up for a race in the Lone Star State: 1) Justin Rodeback - 36.398 (77 laps) 2) Kenny Knox - 36.400 (82) 3) Shane Borlan - 36.417 (84) 4) Jack Freeman - 36.437 (79) 5) TJ Smith - 36.469 (84) 6) Andy Coleman - 36.482 (78) 7) Joey Radcliffe - 36.492 (81) 8) Jason Thales - 36.502 (79) 9) AJ Jones - 36.507 (86) 10) Jake Thomas - 36.513 (86) |
Archives
February 2023
Categories |