Drivers search for long-run speed in second practice session
Kyle Busch, driver of No. 51 Cessna Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports, had the best ten consecutive lap average with an average speed of 174.660 mph. Ben Rhodes, driver of the No. 99 Carolina Nut Ford for ThorSport Racing, placed first during the second practice session despite only running ten laps.
February 22, 2019
Ben Rhodes, driver of the No. 99 Carolina Nut Ford for ThorSport Racing, finished at the top of the speed chart maxing out at 177.726 mph and 31.194 seconds. Rhodes only ran 10 laps in the final NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series practice at a track where tire fall off and long-run speed are always the talk.
Matt Crafton, driver of No. 88 Rip It/Menards for ThorSport Racing, talks with FOX Sports reporters after the second practice session. Crafton dropped from third to eighth between the first and second practice sessions. His times between the two sessions were 176.280 mph and 175.883 mph, respectively.
“We struggled a little bit on old tires,” Stewart Friesen, driver No. 52 Halmar International for Halmar Friesen racing said. “We were loose, loose, loose.”
Friesen placed 16th in the second practice with a top speed of 174.521 mph and a time of 31.767 seconds. However, in the first practice session, Friesen placed first with a top speed of 177.204 mph and a time of 31.286 seconds.
Rookie Sheldon Creed, driver of the No. 2 A.M. Ortega/RTL Chevrolet for GMS Racing, placed second with a speed of 177.334 mph and a time of 31.263 seconds. Following behind Creed, Kyle Busch, piloting the No. 51 Cessna Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports, placed third with a max speed of 177.312 mph and a time of 31.267 seconds. Placing fourth was Parker Kilgerman, driver of the No. 75 Food Country USA Chevrolet for Henderson Motorsports, with a speed of 176.538 mph and a time of 31.404 seconds. To round out the top five, Johnny Sauter, driver of the No. 13 Tenda Heal Ford for ThorSport Racing with a speed of 176.034 mph and a time of 31.494 seconds.
“Today we’re struggling a little bit, but this is our first real race as a team,” Spencer Boyd, driver of the No. 20 1A Auto Chevrolet for Young’s Motorsports said. “We’ve got a solid truck and good teammates to lean on. We’re excited to get out there and race.”
Busch led all drivers in 10-lap average speed. He topped the chart with an average speed of 174.660 mph. Harrison Burton, pilot of No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Kyle Busch Motorsports, with an average speed of 172.943 mph. Rounding out the top three best ten consecutive laps was Kilgerman with an average speed of 171.901 mph.
“Throughout the runs just trying to manage your tires [is the biggest unknown,” Boyd said. “You’ve just to worry about those late-race cautions and being the guy who has a set [of tires] in the pits or not.”
After not completing a single lap in the first practice session, Austin Hill, driver of the No. 16 United Rentals Toyota Hattori Racing Enterprises, was able to place sixth. Hill maxed out with a speed of 176.034 mph and a time of 31.494 seconds.
Fellow Georgia Driver Korbin Forrister, driver of No. 7 Toyota for All Out Motorsports, finished 24th with a top speed of 171.190 mph and a time of 32.272 seconds.
“We’ve been working hard [on the truck] and it’s getting better and better,” Forrister said. “We just ran out of practice time.”
NGOTS qualifying is set for 10:40 a.m. tomorrow morning.
