MARTINSVILLE, Va. (October 31, 2015) – For the week heading into the Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway Caleb Holman preached patience. Saturday afternoon he practiced what he preached.
After getting mired back outside of the top 25 midway through the Kroger 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, Holman took his time and worked his way back through the field to finish eighth. It was his best finish in the truck series for Holman and the Abingdon-based Henderson Motorsports team.
“Patience was everything. You can’t give up. You can’t get down. You’ve got a job to do no matter what the situation is,” said Holman, who lost ground when the front of his Chevy was crumpled during an early restart when a truck slowed in front of him. “You can’t have emotions when you get in that situation. What are you going to do when you get back there, quit? You can’t quit. You have to keep running, keep digging.”
There were 12 caution periods in the race won by Matt Crafton, but it was the restart on lap 190 after the 11th caution that cemented Holman’s finish. Two trucks pushed up to the outside of the Food City USA Chevy, Holman dove under them and refused to give up the real estate.
“With 10 to go, you’re a little bit of a pin ball and there is no more patience at that point,” said Holman. “That restart was the key. I had a choice. They got down in there and got crossed up together. I was on the inside and they both slid up the track. They had the wheels cut hard left and I knew they wanted the spot I was in. I couldn’t let them in. I couldn’t give it back.”
There were a lot of high-fives and hugs around the Henderson Motorsports’ pits after the checkered flag waved. It wasn’t a win, but it was a reason to celebrate for this bunch.
“An eighth place for us is huge,” said Holman. “A small team from Abingdon, Virginia with two employees. Man, we over-performed today, we did.”
