Fort Worth, TX (6 June 2020) – Notorious for its thrilling races year after year, Texas Motor Speedway once again did not come up short of action after another exciting race under the lights on Saturday. Meyer Shank Racing driver Jack Harvey took to Texas Motor Speedway for the very first time on Saturday night to finish 16th in the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda.
Competing at the challenging 1.5 mile oval for the first time in his career, Harvey embarked on a whirlwind event schedule with practice, qualifying and the Genesys 300 all within a seven hour period.
Working fast was important for not only Harvey, but also for the Meyer Shank Racing crew, with just two hours of practice before qualifying. Once complete with qualifying, the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda was then impounded until the start of the race – only allowing the team to make minor changes ahead of the race start.
With temperatures soaring above 95 degrees, Harvey took the green flag, making a strong run for nose-to-tail pack running. It did not take long for Harvey to get into a groove, as he was running speeds consistent with the top-ten and even pulling away from the the surrounding pack of front runners.
Building his speed and confidence with every lap, Harvey battled back after losing a lap early in the run. He soon exceeded his qualifying times as he gained pace through the night. A yellow flag on lap 77 allowed Harvey to regain his lap and restart back on the lead lap. Running among the top five on track, Harvey kept the pace as he looked to make up lost ground in the late stages of the race.
Growing his experience on the daunting and fast Texas track, Harvey showed a veterans approach in his first visit to the facility as he moved up to take sixteenth at the checkered flag.
“It’s been a super busy and eventful day,” said Harvey. “We made some good gains in the race and we had some genuinely good moments. As a whole, Texas is a hard place to come to. I’ve never been here before, I’ve never done an oval in an Indy Car outside of Indy before, so it was a big ask coming here and cramming it all into one day. We also had a tough pit box which made it hard to get in. It was a fine day, not exactly what we wanted but we brought the car home in one piece.”
Mike Shank expressed his appreciation for the gains that Harvey made during the 200 lap event several times during the race.
“It was a very tough and difficult day for us, but what Jack showed us during the race was far beyond what I thought was possible,” said Shank. “We needed to get this race in, and get this experience in and we chalked it all up to learning. Jack had some great laps and he raced way quicker than he qualified and stayed out of trouble. I’m also very happy with the pit stops that we had today, the team executed really well. There are some positives to take out of today but we want to do better and we need to do better for AutoNation and SiriusXM. It is great to get this under our belt and now we can’t wait to get back to Indy where we had our first IndyCar podium last year and keep building. ”
Meyer Shank Racing would like to thank all of the first responders that have been so critical to the country moving forward in this difficult time. Meyer Shank Racing looks forward to better days ahead, and is eager to compete once again as the team prepares for a dual event weekend with both the IMSA WeatherTech 240 at Daytona as well as the GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 4th.
