By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
As Chase Purdy began to soak in his podium result post-race on pit road from Martinsville Speedway, Spire Motorsports teammate Rajah Caruth gave the driver a hug from behind and a handshake.
That moment, as first-year teammates, encasulates Purdy’s feeling of Spire: Teammates are friends.
“Everybody is so close and good friends,” Purdy said. “It’s nice to have teammate you get along with and can spend your time with with, learn off, build off. I’ve been here a while now and I’m learning every day.”
Surviving a late restart, Purdy managed to squeeze into third place, ending a run of five straight finishes of 15th or worse to start 2024.
The result marks his best result in the Crafstman Truck Series in more than a year.
“I could not be any more proud of this No. 77 team and Spire Motorsports and all the guys on the box calling this,” he said. “This is a good night and we’ll take this and move forward.
“I wouldn’t say [anything was] lacking, I would say circumstances and things out of our control just happened to us in the race. Having a crew chief change and building that comradery. We’re starting to click now and nights like tonight make it all worth it.”
The final restart with three laps to go came down to a choose cone. The No. 77, from high atop the spotter stand, decided to restart on the inside lane in fifth position.
That was the right call to bring him home for his first top five of 2024 and fourth of his Truck Series career.
“I honestly put it in my spotter’s hands and I just took it from there,” he said. “I told him, ‘Look man, I don’t know what you want to do here but whatever you choose, I’m game.’ He made the right decision!
“Just try to survive at the end. You throw everything out the window when it’s like that and we made it through. This is definitely a good night.
“Obviously, we want to win, that’s what we’re here to do. But, when you’ve had the start of the season like we’ve had, it’s nice to have this refreshing of a run.”