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BRAD KESELOWSKI RACING MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY RECAP
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| Martinsville Speedway
Texas Roadhouse 200
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Saturday, October 29th, 2016 | 1:30 PM ET |
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THE RESULTS
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| Driver |
Daniel Hemric
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Driver |
Tyler Reddick
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| Starting Position |
13 |
Starting Position |
4 |
| Finishing Position |
9 |
Finishing Position |
13 |
| Status |
Running |
Status |
Running |
| Driver Points Position |
7 |
Driver Points Position |
10 |
| Points Ahead of Eighth Place |
15 |
Points Behind Ninth Place |
4 |
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Daniel Hemric (@DanielHemric) earned his career-best Martinsville Speedway finish in the Texas Roadhouse 200 on Saturday afternoon, his fifth start at the 0.526-mile Virginia track. Fighting a loose condition for a majority of the day, Hemric briefly led the 200-lap event (once for six laps) before bringing home a top-10 finish in the No. 19 Blue Gate Bank Ford F-150.
After just missing the final round of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) qualifying, Hemric took the green flag from the 13th position. By lap six he had worked his way into the top 10, but 20 laps later, Hemric reported that he was fighting a forward drive issue. On lap 51, the yellow flag was displayed for the first time with the Blue Gate Bank Ford F-150 scored in the ninth position.
Hemric relayed to crew chief Chad Kendrick that his truck was extremely loose. Kendrick made the call for four tires, fuel and a track-bar adjustment, and quick work by the pit crew gained the Brad Keselowski Racing team one position on pit road.
Hemric restarted eighth on lap 59, and it was almost 50 laps later before the caution came out once again on lap 109. Despite starting off the run strong, Hemric had dropped back to the 11th position, stating that the truck was progressively getting freer as the laps went by. Kendrick once again called for four tires, fuel and a track-bar adjustment, and the pit crew gained Hemric two spots, sending him back onto the track in ninth.
When the yellow flag waved once again on lap 150, Hemric was still in the ninth spot, but stated that he believed that the truck was coming to him over time. The team decided to make a strategic move for track position, remaining on the racetrack when the rest of the leaders opted to pit.
Hemric took the lead on lap 152 and held the point position for the next six laps before relinquishing his lead. He dropped out of the top five following a restart on lap 170 when he got forced out of the preferred inside line, and Hemric was ninth when he restarted for the final time on lap on lap 183. The Kannapolis, N.C., native was able to defend his position in the closing laps, crossing the finish line in the ninth spot.
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Tyler Reddick (@TylerReddick) overcame a tight handling truck and a soft brake pedal to score a 13th-place finish in the Texas Roadhouse 200 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Reddick has now completed all 2,825 possible laps in 14 career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series short track races, including 1,369 in six Martinsville starts. He is 10th in the series championship standings, four points behind ninth-place Cole Custer.
Reddick qualified fourth on Saturday, the fifth consecutive Martinsville race where he has started 10th or better. Once the green flag waved for the 200-lap event, he wedged his way into seventh place in the bottom lane of traffic. On lap 35, Reddick radioed his crew that he was having issues with his brakes, but he held his ground until the first yellow flag slowed the pace on lap 51. He pitted one lap later for four tires and adjustments, plus the team took an extra moment to remove bits of rubber that were clogging up the brake ducts. Reddick restarted 12th when the race went green on lap 59.
Once again he squeezed into the preferred bottom groove relatively quickly, falling in line 15th by lap 67. But the tight handling condition of his Ford F-150 soon returned, as did his braking issues. He was 18th in the running order at the time of the second caution on lap 109. Once again, Reddick pitted for four tires and adjustments, and speedy service by the Cooper Standard team moved him up to the 14th position when the race went green on lap 116.
Reddick picked up two positions on the restart, but soon he was once again struggling to make his truck turn in the corners. He held firm in the 12th position during the run, which was interrupted by the third caution on lap 150. Reddick pitted one lap later for four tires, but differing pit strategy by his competitors shuffled him back to 16th place for the restart on lap 156.
Over the next 27 laps, Reddick inched his way up the leaderboard. He was 13th with 14 laps remaining when he made a bold move at the entrance to Turn 1 to gain two positions. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to pull off the pass and didn’t mount another charge for position in the closing laps, collecting a 13th-place finish.
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 Daniel Hemric – No. 19 Blue Gate Bank Ford F-150: “I’m really proud of our efforts. I have been to this track more than anywhere else, and every time I come back, I try to convince myself that I like this place and should be good here. Martinsville is really challenging and it just doesn’t grow on me. Chad [Kendrick, crew chief] made some good strategy calls to get us track position and to try to improve the handling of my Ford F-150. Unfortunately, toward the end there, I couldn’t run as hard as the leaders and I kept getting wheel spin when I rolled to throttle. It wasn’t the finish I hoped for, but I improved on my previous finishes here and brought home a top 10.”
Chad Kendrick – Crew Chief, No. 19 Blue Gate Bank Ford
F-150: “I’m really proud of everyone on our team, especially our pit crew. They did a great job all day. Our Blue Gate Bank Ford F-150 just struggled a bit with forward drive, and we never had the handling for Daniel to attack the way he wanted to. Our call to stay out would have worked out better if there had been more cautions. Historically, there are a lot of cautions close together in the final 50 laps, and that would have worked out great for us. That isn’t quite how it played out because there weren’t as many people making mistakes in the closing laps.”
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Tyler Reddick – No. 29 Cooper Standard Accelerate Manufacturing Ford F-150: “The Cooper Standard Ford F-150 just felt a lot tighter today in the race than what we were in practice. The temperature was a lot warmer than we’ve had in the past here when we’ve run this race, so a few variables changed. It just stinks because we wanted to run better. We tried everything we could to make our truck it better throughout the race. It’s a tough deal, but sometimes that just a part of racing that you have. We tried our best, but there are a few things that we need to work on. We have three more races and three more opportunities to get into victory lane.”
Doug Randolph – Crew Chief, No. 29 Cooper Standard Accelerate Manufacturing Ford F-150: “Everyone on the Cooper Standard team did a great job executing in qualifying, but then we just struggled as the race went on. We had an issue with the brakes getting hot and we had to take extra time on the first pit stop to rectify that and lost track position. I think the warmer weather was certainly a factor. There was definitely a lot of debris on the track. The brake duct opening was clogged with rubber on every pit stop and we haven’t really seen that before.”
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Tyler Reddick did a live interview on FS1 with reporter Hermie Sadler during the network’s coverage of practice Oct. 28 where he also commented on the Manufacturing Day initiative.
Daniel Hemric and Reddick both spoke live with FS1 during the network’s coverage of qualifying Oct. 29. Hemric also did a live pre-race interview with Motor Racing Network.
Reddick did a live call-in to the Front Stretch radio show hosted by Pat Patterson Oct. 29 on SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90 and spoke with the Martinsville Bulletin Oct. 26 about the Manufacturing Day initiative.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
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