NASCAR Driver Looking to Triple Top-20 Finishes in Second Half of 2016 Season
FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. (July 27, 2016) – As the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) returns to Iowa Speedway this weekend, driver Ray Black Jr. is ready to get some redemption at the 7/8-mile track, as a brake pedal issue prevented him from a Top-20 finish at the speedway in June. The driver of the No. 07 ScubaLife.com Chevrolet Camaro is now into the second half of his rookie NXS season and looks to take his racing to the next level by tripling the amount of Top-20 finishes he has, starting with the U.S. Cellular 250 this Saturday night.
Black’s debut season in the NXS has not come without its challenges, but the 25-year-old driver and his SS Green Light racing team have persevered to collect 10 Top-25 finishes, three of which are Top-20s. With the second half the season underway, Black now looks to step up his performance and finish consistently in the Top-20 each week.
“The highlight for me this season is definitely finishing 17th at Dover,” explained Black. “That’s such a challenging track, so to come out of there with my best finish so far is great. But I want to continue to get better throughout this season. We have three Top-20s right now, and I feel like we should be able to triple that by the end of the year in Miami.”
In order to get these results, Black already has an idea of what he and his team needs to do week in and week out.
“We’re starting to return to some tracks now where we’ve been before, so we have an idea of what we need on the track,” Black stated. “I’m getting more and more comfortable at these tracks, but having more seat time is never a bad thing either. If we just continue to get better each time we visit a track, there’s no reason why we can succeed.”
Black will have a second chance to secure a Top-20 finish at Iowa Speedway this weekend as the NXS returns to the 7/8-mile track. Last June, Black had a fast race car all weekend long, but a brake pedal issue early on into the race prevented him from a solid finish. Despite the challenge, Black is confident in what the team learned during their last trip to Iowa and what they can accomplish this time around.
“Once the brake issue happened during last month’s race, we used the experience as a test session to see what we could learn for this race,” Black said. “It was a tough race last time. We had a really fast car and were running Top-15 times once we fixed the brake issue but had lost too many laps to get that finish. This time we can really show everyone what we can do at Iowa and come home with the finish we deserve.”
The U.S. Cellular 250 will take place on Saturday, July 30 at 8:00 p.m. ET at Iowa Speedway. Fans can tune in via NBCSN or MRN Radio for live race coverage.
Fans can keep up with Ray Black Jr. by following him and his sponsor, ScubaLife, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @RayBlackJr and @TeamScubaRacing. Learn more about Ray Black Jr. and Team Scuba by visiting www.rayblackjr.com and www.teamscuba.com.
About Ray Black Jr.
Ray Black, Jr. grew up in Florida after relocating from Montgomery, Alabama at age 9. It was here that Black fell in love with deep sea diving after a couple of scuba trips with his father. His passion for motorsports came later at age 14 after playing some racing video games. He began competing in the Florida Mini Cup Racing Association (FMCRA), where finished in the Top-5 in every race and secured the FMCRA Junior All Star Championship. In 2013 Black moved up to racing pro late models and then into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2014. During that year, he got his first taste of true NASCAR racing when he competed in seven races for SS Green Light Racing. In 2015, Black competed in his first full season of NASCAR in the Camping World Truck Series, where he finished 11th in the championship standings with one Top-5 and 11 Top-15 finishes. Black will compete in the NASCAR XFINITY Series for the 2016 season. Learn more at www.rayblackjr.com.
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