Ross Chastain and his No. 80 Advics Toyota Camry came off the hauler fast. The team had two, one hour long practices on Friday at Kentucky Speedway. In first practice, Chastain finished 18th fastest. The team made some changes to the Camry and Chastain ended up 17th fastest in final practice on Friday.
In Knock out qualifying on Saturday Chastain laid down a lap of 171.980 mph that put him in the 15th starting position. The race got underway at 7:30 PM and within six laps, the race saw the first of eight cautions for a one car spin in turn three.
The team decided to pit for two tires and fuel under the second caution on lap 25. Unfortunately, there was a mishap on pit road during the pit stop and Chastain had to come back down pit road and would restart the race in the 20th position.
Shortly after the green flag flew, Chastain was quick to rebound and made gains moving through the field. At the time of the third caution on lap 69, Chastain was 21st and the caution was for debris in turn one. The team decided to pit, this time they elected to take four tires and filled the No. 80 Advics Toyota with Sunoco fuel. Chastain would restart from the 18th position on lap 72 and by lap 73; Chastain was up able to advance to the 14th position.
During the fourth caution on lap 115 Chastain was the recipient of the lucky dog and was able to make up a lap. The team opted to pit on lap 117 for four tires, fuel and made slight adjustments to the car. The green flag came back out on lap 121 and Chastain was the last car on the lead lap. By lap 155 Chastain was back up to 16th. The fifth caution of the night occurred on lap 171 for fluid on turn three and the team decided to once again pit on lap 172. During the seventh caution, Chastain once again was eligible for the lucky dog and got his lap back, which he had lost back on lap 167. The green flag came back out on lap 187 and Chastain was back on the lead lap and sitting in the 18th position. The eighth and final caution came out on lap 190 this time for debris in turn three. The last ten laps of the race stayed green and Chastain made his way from 18th to his finishing position of 10th. At the end of the race Brendan Gaughan was the winner and Chastain brought his No. 80 Advics Toyota Camry home with his first top – ten finish of the season, and was the second highest finishing Toyota after Justin Boston, in ninth.
After the race Chastain had this to say “I can’t thank team owner Shige enough for once again giving the opportunity to drive for him. The guys at the shop do a great job putting the cars together every week. I think we learned a lot from racing at Chicagoland and having the chance to race two weeks in a row on the NASCAR Nationwide Series. My Crew Chief, Bruce Cook came on the radio at the end of the race and told the crew and I that this finish tonight just proved to people that we belong here, and that we can compete with them. We had a slight mishap on pit road but we came back down and made the necessary changes and were able to rebound and get the lucky dog. It was fun to be run in the top ten with all the other drivers that run this series on a weekly basis. I think that this race was definitely a highlight of my Nationwide Series career and just one of many to come with Crew Chief Bruce Cook and owner Shige Hattori.”
The team had their best finish of the season at Kentucky with Ross finishing 10th and look to keep the momentum going as they head to Dover with both the NASCAR Nationwide and K&N East Series.
