By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer
CONCORD, N.C. – TRICON Garage’s Bayley Currey added a helmet to his truck chief duties for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Ecosave 200 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway and scored a top-five finish.
Currey ran inside the top-10 throughout the entirety of the 200-mile race. Although he never led a lap in the race, he often worked with his TRICON teammate, and Truck Series points leader, Kaden Honeycutt, pushing him out to the lead on restarts.
The final restart was no different with Currey pushing his teammate forward. However, Front Row Motorsports’ Layne Riggs slowly caught the dueling leaders. The No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford F-150 passed both of the TRICON trucks, followed by the No. 91 NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet Silverado RST of Christian Eckes.
While the truck chief and racer slipped back on the final 11 lap run to the finish, Currey still crossed the line in fourth. It was the Driftwood, Tex. native’s second top-five finish of the season.
“It’s good, I always knew I could go do this and to get with this team and the confidence they put in me and the effort they put into this deal, I just couldn’t be happier,” Currey said. “I try not to think about that. I try not to put too much pressure on myself at the end of the day.
“I always got a good job to go back to and be truck chief. But, I want to win one of these things so bad just so I can say I did it. We’ve come close twice this year and hopefully we’ll get some more shots at it.”
Among Currey’s pre-race responsibilities was getting Brent Crews’ No. 1 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra through technical inspection. At the same time, the No. 5 Monster Truck Wars Toyota that he’d drive went through inspection itself. The Charlotte race marked the second start as a driver this season for Currey.
Working on both trucks was nothing new to Currey. The 29-year-old has experience working on the cars of competitors and his own from his short track racing days.
“I’ve always worked on my own racecars, other people’s racecars,” Currey explained. “I remember back in Texas. I’ve been working on some guys’ modified and racing late models and doing all that. It’s not too different for me. I really enjoy it. I love working with this TRICON group and it’s been great so far this year.”
Next for Currey is a return to the truck chief position on the No. 1 Toyota Tundra for the race at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway on Friday, October 16.