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[/media-credit]Friday, May 18, 2012
Lofton Gets First Camping World Truck Series Win In N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway
Justin Lofton, 26, earned his first Camping World Truck Series win Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway, winning the N.C. Education Lottery 200.
Friday, May 18, 2012 PIT NOTE #6
LOFTON WINS NORTH CAROLINA EDUCATION LOTTERY 200 – Justin Lofton earned his first career win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Friday during the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, holding off NASCAR Sprint Cup regular Brad Keselowski.
“This is amazing,” Lofton said. “I really don’t even know what to do. This day’s been a long time coming.”
Lofton, 26, had posted four straight top-10 finishes to start the season. He started second Friday and led 44 laps en route to the win.
Rounding out the top 5 were Todd Bodine, Jason Leffler and Ron Hornaday Jr.
A stellar rookie performance was turned in by Jeb Burton, son of former NASCAR driver Ward Burton, who ran in the top 10 all night before finishing eighth.
JUSTIN LOFTON (Winner, No. 6 CollegeComplete.com Chevrolet) – “I know, this is amazing. I really don’t even know what to do. This day’s been a long time coming.
“This entire week, it was one of those weeks where I was just real calm, real excited about the race. I’ve seen all the hard work. It’s just amazing to be able to do it for these guys. I’ve seen all the hard work that Dan (Bormann) puts in, day in and day out. Dan believed in me, taking a chance, quitting a job, coming over to take over as crew chief. He has done an amazing job.”
EDDIE SHARP (Owner, No. 6 CollegeComplete.com Chevrolet) – “Everybody knows my story, and the really big story was KHI going away. We went out on a limb, and I had some people who believed in me. Justin and his dad believed in me, so I made a huge commitment and bought out KHI. There were a lot of people who thought I was nuts. To do what we’ve done this early… you know, you can buy all the equipment and stuff, but it all comes down to people. We put all our cards on the table. This is what I do. I don’t have a bunch of dealerships; I don’t own another business; I’m not in construction, this is what I do. This is by far the biggest win of our career.”
DANIEL BORMANN (Crew Chief, No. 6 CollegeComplete.com Chevrolet) – “It was a quick night tonight, being able to come in and just take two tires on our first stop. The pit crew did a good job. They did an excellent job on our four-tire stop to be able to get it full of fuel. That’s the closest I’ve ever been at the end of the race to being able to make it. Everybody’s put in a lot of hard work, and we were able to make it happen tonight.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI (Second Place, No. 19 Cooper Standard Ram) – “I’m really proud of my team tonight. They worked hard to make it happen. It just came down to the restarts and who was going to work together and nobody worked with me. They tried their hardest to wreck me. I was real frustrated about that.
“Our truck was phenomenally good. I was trying to be smart with it. We got caught with that section of green flag stops and we lost a lap. We got back to where we could race again. I’m proud of team for working really hard to get back. We got back to the lead there and it was just a matter of racing the restarts.”
TODD BODINE (Third Place, No. 11 Toyota Care Toyota) – “It was good in the end; started off terrible. We were really, really loose there. And I’ll take the blame for that. We weren’t balanced really well. I thought in practice I had it balanced real well, and I didn’t. We made lots of adjustments and got it really, really good. I was still just a little free in the middle, and so I wrecked myself twice. I’m not gonna complain, we’ve had some decent runs.”
RON HORNADAY JR. (Fifth Place, Joe Dennette Motorsports Chevrolet) – “We made our bed. We should have came in and got fuel.”
JEB BURTON (Eighth Place, Top Sunoco Rookie of the Race, No. 27 State Water Heaters Chevrolet) – “I kind of got down on myself a couple weeks ago at Kansas and made a rookie mistake. I’m shaking right now. I’ve wanted this real bad, and I’m blessed with the opportunity. I’m excited for my family and myself. I’m trying to improve myself so I can get an opportunity, so I can race with these guys each week.”
