By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
One of the smallest teams in the NASCAR Xfinity Series finally got their time in the spotlight Thursday night at Kentucky Speedway, as 22-year-old Kyle Weatherman drove the No. 47 Mike Harmon Racing Chevrolet to their best-ever result.
That result was a top-10 finish, the team’s first in 280 races dating back to 2008 in the series. Surviving a mad dash to the checkered flag in an overtime finish on Thursday, Weatherman dodged some trouble and outlasted the competitors to come home eighth.
“It was really good from the beginning,” Weatherman told Kickin’ The Tires. “The biggest thing obviously was restarts, we had a two-lap shootout at the end. That was the best time and best place to pass some cars.
“It was definitely really hard to pass, everybody was right in the VHT that NASCAR had applied down. It was really a one-groove racetrack in a way with everyone fighting for that VHT spot.”
With some short runs to end the night, Weatherman lined up in the preferred lane to make some ground in the closing laps.
“On restarts, out car was actually really good,” he said. “Another thing that helped out timing was that we were able to restart on the outside as well. That was a god spot for the restart there. It was definitely chaotic on that last lap, three-wide going into Turn 3. It was crazy but an awesome finish.”
Indeed, things got close for Weatherman, who sneaked through the middle before things got rough for the race’s dominator, Noah Gragson.
“I know Noah was on the outside of me in three-wide, I don’t know if I cleared him and then he got into [Justin] Allgaier or what,” he said, as the two made contact on the final restart. “I just know I split them three-wide going into Turn 3. I think they kind of wrecked behind me and luckily we didn’t get caught up in any of that.”
Driving the No. 47 Chevy in the Shady Rays 200, Weatherman continued what has been an all-time team best in 2020, scoring three consecutive top-15 finishes (15th at Pocono, 15th at Indianapolis Road Course, eighth at Kentucky).
Weatherman was thrilled to bring team owner and long-time owner/driver Mike Harmon his first top 10 in the series.
“Oh, it’s amazing,” he said. “Obviously, Mike has been in the sport for a long time. He works really hard so it’s cool to put stuff together like this and overachieve with where we are at.
“He was smiling ear-to-ear.”
His seventh start of 2020, Weatherman is hoping Thursday’s top-10 run can open the door to more races throughout the remainder of the season. He lines up eighth for Friday night’s Alsco 300, the second and final race of the Xfinity Series’ Kentucky doubleheader.
“It’s week-by-week right now. Hopefully, runs like this put more on the table,” he said. “I’m just really thankful for the opportunity. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of what we can continue doing.”
8th BABY!!!!!! I can’t thank Everyone who has helped me to this point in my career Hopefully this is just the beginning 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻. @NASCAR pic.twitter.com/RgR9QLDa1l
— Kyle Weatherman (@KyleWeatherman) July 10, 2020