Kwasniewski Finishes 19th in Season Finale at Homestead

In the final start of his 2014 Rookie Campaign, Dylan Kwasniewski and his No. 31 Rockstar Energy Drink team battled throughout the 200-lap race, ultimately coming home with a 19th-place finish in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) series finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

 

After using two practice sessions on Friday to learn his way around the 1.5-mile south Florida speedway, Kwasniewski went out on Saturday morning and made it to the final stages of NASCAR’s knockout qualifying, earning the ninth starting position for Saturday afternoon’s finale. As the green flag waved, Kwasniewski used the race’s first couple of laps to work his way from the bottom groove all the way to the top of the racetrack. On lap 15, while running in the 12th position, Kwasniewski reported to crew chief Shannon Rursch that he was loose all around. On lap 33, while still running inside the top 15, Kwasniewski hit the wall after suffering a flat left-rear tire, bringing out the first caution of the afternoon. During the caution, Rursch called Kwasniewski down pit road to first change right-side tires to stay on the lead lap, then back down pit road the following lap to change left sides and fix the damage to the Rockstar Energy Drink Chevy. Kwasniewski would restart in the 25th position on lap 40. After the restart, a long green-flag run ensued, causing Kwasniewski to go a lap down on lap 60. A timely caution, however, waved on lap 72 and Kwasniewski received his lap back and the crew made wholesale changes on pit road to his Chevy. After restarting at the tail end of the lead lap in 23rd on lap 79, Kwasniewski worked his way up to as high as 12th on lap 113 and was close to cracking the top 10 before brushing the wall a few times during last portion of the race, ultimately crossing the finish line in the 19th position.

 

Dylan Kwasniewski on his run at Homestead:

“Today wasn’t the finish we would have liked to had heading into the offseason. We battled a loose racecar throughout the day, and could never really get it dialed in after suffering damage to the right side during the first half of the race. Regardless of the outcome today, I couldn’t be more proud of the guys that worked hard all year to build us such fast racecars. I can’t thank everyone enough on this race team that gave me the opportunity to go out every weekend and compete.”

 

TSM PR