Jordan Anderson’s Bolen Motorsports crew placed 22nd after starting 17th for Friday’s Rattlesnake 400, posting his third straight top-25 finish in the 2016 season. Anderson, who drives for the first-year organization in their No. 66 entry, remains optimistic despite some serious setbacks early in the year, such as a DNF at Daytona and back-to-back DNQs at Atlanta and Martinsville.
Said Anderson of his Rattlesnake 400 run, “Really, really solid finish here in Texas today. Awesome qualifying run by our guys, we were top-20 in practice both days. Today, getting that good qualifying run was a good motivational booster for our crew guys to show that we can qualify up there. We have speed. We were on the same straightaway as the big teams. We passed a couple of the big team trucks and ran there by them for most of the race.”
Anderson is in his second season of Camping World Truck Series competition, and although he has had some less than savory results, he is still with a stable team that has the potential to grow and become more consistent as the year progresses. He takes care of his equipment, which for a small team is very important. He’s one of three full-time employees at Bolen, and with their limited resources, he continues to grow as a driver.
Currently, 25th in points, Anderson’s Texas truck will be used again at Iowa and again at Gateway, both tracks that are harder on equipment than Texas. Considering that the season is only seven races old, Iowa and Gateway will be important in deciding how his 2016 will fare. He has the potential to carry on and maybe even improve his top-25 streak in those events. But if the team struggles, it may be a repeat of 2015 in the long run.
Still, this has been a good year for Anderson regardless of struggles. Bolen can build their organization around him and build him up as a driver as well. Texas showed that the team is moving in the right direction and it could lead to other strong runs for this underfunded team.
