By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Each week, Kickin’ The Tires will highlight the 20th-place finisher from the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. Standing as the middleman in weekends with 40-car fields, there is sure to be a story behind each one.
Kicking off the season with another memorable Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, this week’s 20th-place finisher was Gray Gaulding. Returning to BK Racing for 2018, the opening weekend of the new season had plenty of lows for the struggling Toyota team.
A late entry for the 500, BK Racing put a car together to make it to the garage in time for the opening weekend. With white corner panels and some confusion on who the driver would be, the team had some answers fill in the blanks.
Gaulding, 20, was the name to occupy the seat. The Virginian, who ran 27 of 36 races in 2017, would make his first Daytona 500 attempt. Question No. 1 was answered.
Second was what sponsor, if any, would drape the car for the year’s biggest weekend. That was filled by Earthwater.
The final question would be an important one and that was pace. For a team that has experienced massive complications and controversy in their short history in the Cup Series, plate racing always has that potential to ease the gaps.
Looking at past results, the No. 23 Toyota, if it stayed out of trouble, could actually bring home a decent result. Despite the usual troubles for a Cup Series rookie, Gaulding showed stability on plate tracks, earning his first top-20 finish at Talladega Superspeedway last spring. He backed that up with a shocking ninth-place finish in the fall, beating out most of the wrecks.
Additionally, BK had Corey Lajoie score an 11th-place in the July weekend at Daytona in 2017. So, a weekend at Daytona could maybe bring some fortune again this time around.
And it did.
Through another nutty 500 miles of racing in Florida, many of the top dogs crashed out: Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Jimmie Johnson, etc. All this did was bump the No. 23, who avoided the accidents throughout the day, up the scoring pylon.
At the end of the day, Gaulding jumped to 20th and stayed there to score his third career top-20 finish… all coming in his last three plate starts.
Furthermore, a top 20 means a lot to BK Racing. In their seventh year of Cup racing, Sunday was only the 38th top 20 in 497 entries. And as we head into the true competition of the season with a 1.5-miler of Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend, any sort of momentum will benefit one of the sport’s smallest teams.
List of 20th-Place Finishers So Far in 2018
Daytona: Gray Gaulding
Racing for 20th: Gray Gaulding at Daytona
By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Each week, Kickin’ The Tires will highlight the 20th-place finisher from the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. Standing as the middleman in weekends with 40-car fields, there is sure to be a story behind each one.
Kicking off the season with another memorable Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, this week’s 20th-place finisher was Gray Gaulding. Returning to BK Racing for 2018, the opening weekend of the new season had plenty of lows for the struggling Toyota team.
A late entry for the 500, BK Racing put a car together to make it to the garage in time for the opening weekend. With white corner panels and some confusion on who the driver would be, the team had some answers fill in the blanks.
Gaulding, 20, was the name to occupy the seat. The Virginian, who ran 27 of 36 races in 2017, would make his first Daytona 500 attempt. Question No. 1 was answered.
Second was what sponsor, if any, would drape the car for the year’s biggest weekend. That was filled by Earthwater.
The final question would be an important one and that was pace. For a team that has experienced massive complications and controversy in their short history in the Cup Series, plate racing always has that potential to ease the gaps.
Looking at past results, the No. 23 Toyota, if it stayed out of trouble, could actually bring home a decent result. Despite the usual troubles for a Cup Series rookie, Gaulding showed stability on plate tracks, earning his first top-20 finish at Talladega Superspeedway last spring. He backed that up with a shocking ninth-place finish in the fall, beating out most of the wrecks.
Additionally, BK had Corey Lajoie score an 11th-place in the July weekend at Daytona in 2017. So, a weekend at Daytona could maybe bring some fortune again this time around.
And it did.
Through another nutty 500 miles of racing in Florida, many of the top dogs crashed out: Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Jimmie Johnson, etc. All this did was bump the No. 23, who avoided the accidents throughout the day, up the scoring pylon.
At the end of the day, Gaulding jumped to 20th and stayed there to score his third career top-20 finish… all coming in his last three plate starts.
Furthermore, a top 20 means a lot to BK Racing. In their seventh year of Cup racing, Sunday was only the 38th top 20 in 497 entries. And as we head into the true competition of the season with a 1.5-miler of Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend, any sort of momentum will benefit one of the sport’s smallest teams.
List of 20th-Place Finishers So Far in 2018
Daytona: Gray Gaulding