By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Jeremy Clements returned to the top 10 in Saturday’s ToyotaCare 250 from Richmond Raceway. Following the week his family-owned XFINITY Series team has had, this one — the 14th of his career — is extra special.
After crashing out on Lap 4 last week at Bristol, a torn-up racecar forced Clements and team to pull out a five-year-old car to turn over and compete with Saturday at Richmond.
Boy, did it out-perform.
Starting 26th for the 250-lapper, the 33-year-old made forward progress throughout the night, eventually cracking the top 10 in the closing 50 laps. The run didn’t stop there as Clements knocked off two more spots to finish eighth at the line. The run is his first top-10 finish since his victory at Road America last summer.
“Our Chevy was really fast on the long run, it held up better than most cars,” Clements told Kickin’ The Tires. “Still wasn’t perfect by no means but she was really fast. I’m really surprised because this is an old car that we’ve run to death. Ever since Bristol last week, our other car destroyed so we had to bring this thing out.”
Even in the older equipment, Clements surprised himself by passing JR Motorsports’ Tyler Reddick before sliding past Roush Fenway’s Ryan Reed to score eighth.
“Oh, it was so cool. So cool, man,” he said of passing top teams for position. “Being up there even getting to race with those guys, because their equipment is so much better, is a huge honor and privilege. I know when we do that, we’re having a good day. It’s very satisfying.”
A portion of the satisfaction comes from the boost in driver points after Bristol’s last-place finish. The No. 51 team made the playoffs in 2017 due to the Road America win and has put another playoff spot as one of their top goals.
“We needed to dig out of that hole,” he said. “I’m extremely happy for me and my guys. It was an awesome run, we needed that very much. Proud to get a top 10, that’s a heck of a run for us. The car was lightning fast, I’m proud of these boys.”
With short tracks in the books for the next two months, Clements and the XFINITY Series jump to Talladega next weekend. Two years ago, Clements scored his first-career top-five finish there, however, knows the unpredictability of the place more than anyone.
“Talladega, that’s a wild card. We’re liable to win that race or end up dead-last again,” he said. “It’s one of those places you just never know. I hope we can just stay out of trouble. How many times do you hear that?
“If we can just stay out of trouble and be there at the end, we will definitely have a shot at winning that thing. That’s our plan, I don’t know how we’re going to do that.