Date: August 11, 2018
Event: Corrigan Oil 200 (Race 15 of 23)
Series: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS)
Location: Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn (two-mile oval)
Format: Three Segments; 20 laps/20 laps/60 laps
Start/Finish: 12th / 22nd (running, completed 95 of 100 laps)
Winner: Brett Moffitt of Hattori Racing Enterprises (Toyota)
Flat right-rear tires seemed to plague Spencer Davis’ day in the No. 51 JBL/SiriusXM Tundra at Michigan International Speedway. A flat which caused him to spin in qualifying forced him to start in the back of the field, and another one late in the race cost him a potential top-10 finish.
Stage One Recap:
- Davis qualified 12th, but was forced to start in the back of the 32-truck field after a flat right-rear tire in qualifying caused him to spin out. Since the team changed tires and worked on the Tundra, he lost his starting position.
- He quickly worked his way up through the field and was scored in 14th when the first 20-lap stage ended.
- When the pits opened, he came in for four tires since the team wanted to fix some damage to the right-side rocker panel.
Stage Two Recap:
- After the lengthy pit stop, Davis was 18th when the race resumed on lap 27. With a good restart he jumped up to ninth place.
- A caution late in the second stage brought several trucks to pit road early to gain track position by staying out during the stage break. Davis came in on lap 37 for right-side tires.
- He was scored 15th when the stage ended.
Stage Three Recap:
- Davis was 10th to start the final 60-lap stage. He told the team his Tundra was “super tight.”
- Since nobody could make it to the end of the race on fuel, Davis came to pit road under green on lap 73 for fuel only and adjustments to help the tight condition.
- Unfortunately, a caution came with 21 laps to go before everyone had pitted which caught him a lap down.
- He was 19th and one lap down when the race resumed on lap 84. A few laps later, he radioed to crew chief Mike Hillman Jr., that a right-rear tire had gone down again. He pitted to pull out the sheet metal and get another tire, but the extra stop cost him more laps. He was 22nd and five laps down when the race ended.
Spencer Davis, driver of the No. 51 JBL/SiriusXM Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports:
Talk about your race today:
“Definitely not the weekend we wanted right here. We blew a right-rear tire in qualifying. We actually had a good JBL/SiriusXM Tundra to start off, but unfortunately something happened which caused the truck to get super loose toward the end. We couldn’t diagnose the problem and just tried to salvage the day to get a top-10 finish and had a right-rear tire go down again. It was an unfortunate end to my truck season here, but I have to thank KBM and Toyota for the opportunity and hope we get to do it again next year.”
Corrigan Oil 200 Recap:
- Brett Moffitt won race followed by Johnny Sauter, John Hunter Nemechek, KBM’s Noah Gragson and Todd Gilliland rounded out the top-five finishers.
- The race featured five cautions for a total of 22 laps. There were 16 lead changes among nine drivers. Noah Gragson led 18 laps while Todd Gilliland led eight.
How Busch’s KBM Teammates Fared:
- Todd Gilliland, driver of the No. 4 Toyota, finished 5th
- Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 18 Toyota, finished 4th
NCWTS Owner Championship Standings:
The No. 51 team remains third in the Truck Series Owner’s Championship Standings, 65 points out of first.
Next Race:
Harrison Burton will be behind the wheel of the No. 51 Hunt Brothers Pizza Tundra when racing action resumes next week on Thursday, Aug. 16 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. Live coverage of the race begins at 8:30 p.m. ET on FOX.