HEARTBREAK FOR JASON WHITE AND JOE DENETTE MOTORSPORTS AT BRISTOL
Race: O’Reilly 200
Location: Bristol Motor Speedway
Starting Position: 20th
Finishing Position: 16th
Owner Points Position: 16th (Gained two positions)
Bristol, TN (8-26-11) – Joe Denette Motorsports’ driver, Jason White, led 43 laps in Wednesday night’s O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) but ran out of fuel with 19 laps remaining in the 200-lap event, finishing 16th.
Starting 20th, White made quick-work of the trucks ahead of him, settling into the top-12 by lap 17. With pit strategy in mind, White brought his GunBroker.com Chevrolet to the attention of his crew for four tires including an air pressure adjustment, and fuel at lap 32. When racing resumed on lap 36, the No. 23 machine was scored 24th.
17 laps later, a two-truck incident in turn-three brought out the third caution of the evening. All the leaders that had not pit prior to this caution made their way down pit road. White took over the lead under caution and led the field back to green at lap 58.
White held on to the top spot for the next 39 circuits until a restart on lap 97 when the No. 2 machine of Kevin Harvick eventually claimed the lead. As the laps wound down, White would remain in the second position as he attempted to save fuel.
It wasn’t until a caution at lap 180 that White radioed into the crew that the GunBroker.com Chevrolet was sputtering. Just one lap later, White was stalled on the front stretch. After a push around the track by the safety crew, White made his way down pit road for fuel. When racing resumed on lap 183, the Richmond, VA native was scored 21st, one lap down.
Crew chief, Chad Kendrick brought the No. 23 machine down pit road under the evening’s ninth and final caution for four tires. Restarting 19th with 10 laps remaining, White made one last sprint to finish 16th behind race winner, Kevin Harvick.
Jason White Quotes:
“We actually had enough fuel in the truck to go to lap 202. However, under caution here, all the fuel goes to the left side of the fuel cell, due to the high banking, and we just lost fuel pressure causing the engine to sputter and ultimately, shut off. It’s heartbreaking, that’s for sure but we had a strong truck here tonight and we went down swinging. It’s hard to lose one like that; the results monitor definitely doesn’t reflect where we ran all night. I think we spent more than half of the race inside the top-two.”
Notes:
. White led 43 laps in Wednesday night’s O’Reilly 200 at BMS. Joe Denette Motorsports led the first 97 laps of the event.
. Joe Denette was the only owner in the NCWTS to have two truck’s (23 and 24) lead laps in the O’Reilly 200 at BMS.
. Although White had a disappointing finish of 16th in the 16th event on the 2011 NCWTS schedule, the veteran driver had an average running position of 7.415
. White spent 154 laps of the 200 lap event inside the top-15, running as high as first and as low as 25th.
. According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, White had a driver rating of 100.3 following the O’Reilly 200 at BMS.
. In 16 starts, the Joe Denette Motorsports team has one top-five, three top-10, seven top-15 and 11 top-20 finishes.
. White currently has an average starting position of 17.1 and an average finishing position of 17.3 in 2011.The veteran driver has led 50 laps and completed 95.17 percent of laps attempted (2404 of 2526).
. White is currently 14th in the 2011 NCWTS driver point standings.
Up Next:
The NCWTS returns to action on Friday, September 2 at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Atlanta 200. White will make his 6th start at the 1.54 -mile oval. All the action can be viewed live on SPEED at 8:00 p.m. ET.
For more information on Joe Denette Motorsports please visit: www.JoeDenetteMotorsports.com
For more information on Jason White and GunBroker.com please visit: www.GunBrokerRacing.com
Follow Joe Denette Motorsports on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/TeamJDM23
Follow Jason White on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/JasonWhite23
Follow GunBroker.com on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/GunBroker
Vote for Jason White, 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Most Popular Driver
Voting has begun for the 2011 Most Popular Driver of the year award in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Fans are encouraged to vote for their favorite driver once per day until voting ends on November 17, 2011.
To vote, please visit: http://bit.ly/VoteJW2011
