By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
The day for the No. 11 team out of Kaulig Racing came with its ups and downs but ultimately finished on the upside.
When the race went green, Truex knew that the setup was missed for the race with teams practicing on Thursday afternoon and evening, as well as the VHT traction compound applied to the outer grooves in the turns. Early on in the 200-lap race, Truex had tagged the outside wall. When he hit the wall, Truex was mad at himself and fired up because his car driving so bad.
“I was pretty fired up after hitting the wall because my car was driving so badly. I was loose getting into the corners that I was just holding on. Once we got in the wall, I thought it was destroyed. I was honestly mad at myself,” Truex said.
Truex knew he had a great car on the bottom of the track but did not have the car to run in the top groove.
“We were good on the bottom, but there was so much grip on the top that you had to be up there. My car just didn’t want to be up there,” Truex said post-race.
Luckily, the rains came with 28 laps remaining of the scheduled distance. Truex and his team got lucky as the rains washed the VHT off the track, which helped the organization.
“I think after the rain delay, it washed all that stuff off and even to back out and the bottom was the best spot. Our car worked really well down there. It ended up working out well. We had the right strategy to get up there in time, it rained and got the track tight where I needed it to,” Truex said.
Truex finished the race in the sixth position.