Saturday, September 11
Track: Portland International Raceway, 12-turn, 1.967 mile road course
Race: 6 of 9
Event: Portland 112 (57 laps, 112 miles)
Taylor Gray, No. 17 Ripper Coffee Fusion
Start: 3rd
Finish: 1st
Taylor Gray qualified third for his first ARCA event at Portland International Raceway.
By lap 10, Gray was in the second position in his Ripper Coffee Ford Fusion. He took the lead on lap 18 and held onto it through the break on lap 30.
The young driver pitted for service during the break for adjustments to help him with front grip.
Gray restarted from the first position on lap 33. Shortly after the restart, Gray spun after contact with a competitor and was unable to get the car to re-fire which caused a caution and sent him one lap down.
After restarting 16th, one lap down, Gray was able to get back on the lead lap on lap 43 after another caution came out and he was the beneficiary of the free pass.
Once Gray was back on the lead lap, he worked quickly to move his way up through the field.
On lap 52, the caution was once again displayed and Gray was fifth. The lengthy caution set up a green-white finish. Gray got a great restart from fifth, went three-wide and took the lead which resulted in his first win this season.
The 16-year-old earned the victory in his first start at Portland International Raceway and his first this season.
Next event: Star Nursery 150 at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 23 at 10 p.m. ET.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
