By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Each week, Kickin’ The Tires will highlight the 20th-place finisher from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Standing as the middleman in weekends with 40-car fields, there is sure to be a story behind each one.
DJ Kennington and Gaunt Brothers Racing have run half the season thus far in the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. And for the most part, they’ve had their work cut out for them with rough and tough short track racing.
This past weekend, however, Talladega Superspeedway would offer the Toyota team a true shot at a career day, evening the competition level with the year’s second restrictor plate race. With four prior plate starts at Talladega and Daytona for Canadian Kennington, the GEICO 500 would prove to showcase the culmination of hard work, luck and team development from the new team.
Starting 31st, the No. 96 Toyota made semi-progress through the first two stages, only tip-toeing into the top 30 on average. The race showed plenty of pit strategy, most of which done under green-flag conditions. The 188-lapper saw three green-flag runs of 20 or more laps.
It wasn’t until the late Big One with 22 laps to go where Kennington, who scored the free pass on the previous caution, jumped up the board. The wreck brought seven cars to the garage, giving Kennington a shot at a career-best finish.
And it came, as the 40-year-old stayed out of trouble to grab 20th place at the strip. In his 10th career Cup start and GBR’s sixth, they each saw their first top-20 finish.
“A top-20 finish for our team, in our sixth race, is incredible,” said team owner Marty Gaunt. “We couldn’t have made this happen without the support of Toyota Racing Development and all the hours the GBR crew put into this car.”
With finishes of 24th, 31st, 28th and 27th this year, Talladega was a step up the performance ladder for GBR. Despite the late attrition, the single-car, part-time team brought home a clean racecar, which is a win in itself. Throwing in a top 20 was a bonus.
“We had a really good car,” Kennington said. “We couldn’t quite get it to suck up in the draft the way we wanted but it held its own. Mark [Hillman, crew chief] made some awesome calls, ensuring we stayed on the lead lap.”
Kickin’ The Tires reported in April that GBR’s 2018 schedule is sponsor-dependant and that they’re picking tracks they feel they can perform best at throughout the year. So far, this has included the short tracks of Martinsville and Bristol, plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega along with the 1-mile ISM Raceway in Phoenix.
Kennington’s next race with GBR is expected to be Daytona in July, though it has not been confirmed.
List of 20th-Place Finishers So Far in 2018
Daytona: Gray Gaulding
Atlanta: Alex Bowman
Las Vegas: Trevor Bayne
ISM: Trevor Bayne (2)
Auto Club: Darrell Wallace Jr.
Martinsville: William Byron
Texas: Gray Gaulding(2)
Bristol: Landon Cassill
Richmond: Ty Dillon
Talladega: DJ Kennington
Mid-Pack with Zach: DJ Kennington, Gaunt Brothers Racing
By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Each week, Kickin’ The Tires will highlight the 20th-place finisher from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Standing as the middleman in weekends with 40-car fields, there is sure to be a story behind each one.
DJ Kennington and Gaunt Brothers Racing have run half the season thus far in the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. And for the most part, they’ve had their work cut out for them with rough and tough short track racing.
This past weekend, however, Talladega Superspeedway would offer the Toyota team a true shot at a career day, evening the competition level with the year’s second restrictor plate race. With four prior plate starts at Talladega and Daytona for Canadian Kennington, the GEICO 500 would prove to showcase the culmination of hard work, luck and team development from the new team.
Starting 31st, the No. 96 Toyota made semi-progress through the first two stages, only tip-toeing into the top 30 on average. The race showed plenty of pit strategy, most of which done under green-flag conditions. The 188-lapper saw three green-flag runs of 20 or more laps.
It wasn’t until the late Big One with 22 laps to go where Kennington, who scored the free pass on the previous caution, jumped up the board. The wreck brought seven cars to the garage, giving Kennington a shot at a career-best finish.
And it came, as the 40-year-old stayed out of trouble to grab 20th place at the strip. In his 10th career Cup start and GBR’s sixth, they each saw their first top-20 finish.
“A top-20 finish for our team, in our sixth race, is incredible,” said team owner Marty Gaunt. “We couldn’t have made this happen without the support of Toyota Racing Development and all the hours the GBR crew put into this car.”
With finishes of 24th, 31st, 28th and 27th this year, Talladega was a step up the performance ladder for GBR. Despite the late attrition, the single-car, part-time team brought home a clean racecar, which is a win in itself. Throwing in a top 20 was a bonus.
“We had a really good car,” Kennington said. “We couldn’t quite get it to suck up in the draft the way we wanted but it held its own. Mark [Hillman, crew chief] made some awesome calls, ensuring we stayed on the lead lap.”
Kickin’ The Tires reported in April that GBR’s 2018 schedule is sponsor-dependant and that they’re picking tracks they feel they can perform best at throughout the year. So far, this has included the short tracks of Martinsville and Bristol, plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega along with the 1-mile ISM Raceway in Phoenix.
Kennington’s next race with GBR is expected to be Daytona in July, though it has not been confirmed.
List of 20th-Place Finishers So Far in 2018
Daytona: Gray Gaulding
Atlanta: Alex Bowman
Las Vegas: Trevor Bayne
ISM: Trevor Bayne (2)
Auto Club: Darrell Wallace Jr.
Martinsville: William Byron
Texas: Gray Gaulding(2)
Bristol: Landon Cassill
Richmond: Ty Dillon
Talladega: DJ Kennington