Matt Tifft and the Anderson’s Maple Syrup Team Battle to Seventh Place Finish
“We had a great No. 2 Anderson’s Maple Syrup Chevrolet at Texas today. We ran top-five, top-10 speeds all weekend long, both in practice and throughout the race. I struggled a little bit at the start of the race with a lack of rear grip, but that really came to me during the race with adjustments and as the track picked up more rubber. We decided early on in the final stage that we planned to go for it on the fuel mileage, so I started saving hard with 25 laps to go. Unfortunately, a caution that came out with just over 10 laps to go which changed our strategy. Having over 60 laps on our tires was a little too much, so we decided to come to take four fresh ones and top off on fuel. That set us back a little bit farther than we wanted, and I just ran out of time and room to get back up to top-three spots where we ran for most of the day. We’ll take seventh though and get ready to fight for a transfer spot in Phoenix.”
-Matt Tifft
Shane Lee and Childress Vineyards Team Take Outside Pole and Leads Laps Before Late-Race Spin Ends Top-10 Run
“I’m really proud of this entire No. 3 Childress Vineyards race team. We were fast in practice and we had a great qualifying effort. To lead my first lap in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Texas Motor Speedway is pretty special. My biggest challenge was Turn 2. If my line was bit off, I lost ground and my car was pretty tight. Plus I couldn’t carry the same corner speed as most of those guys. Nick Harrison (crew chief) worked to fix our Camaro, and I had to do some driving to dodge wrecks but we had a strategy in place where if the race went green all the way, we would have enough fuel when a lot of the leaders were close. We had the top-10 in our sights with 25 to go, but with about 13 laps remaining, our pit strategy was out the window with a caution. We pitted to prepare for a seven-lap shootout and lined up 10th. All I heard was ‘elbows up’ and I gave it my all. Unfortunately we broke loose along with our teammate. It’s unfortunate, but I’m proud of my guys for giving me a car that was worthy of a solid top-10 finish.”
-Shane Lee
Late-Race Contact Hurts Daniel Hemric’s Efforts in the No. 21 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet
“I’m really proud of everyone on this South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet team. We keep bringing fast race cars to the track and executing when we need to. The car was fast from the drop of the green flag and we were able to lead laps and earn another stage win today. Those are the kind of things we need to do in the Playoffs, and I’m happy we were able to get that done. On that second-to-last restart I had fresh tires and was in a position to race back through the field and contend for the win. Unfortunately, things didn’t go our way but we were able to battle back to a Top-10 finish. This race is over and our focus is on the the task at hand and moving on to Phoenix. I have to thank my engineer, Andrew Dickeson, for stepping up all weekend with Danny Stockman serving his suspension. It says a lot about the depth of RCR and the team Stockman has built around him.”
-Daniel Hemric
