Justin Lofton Returns to Competition; Finishes 14th at Bristol Motor Speedway

Justin Lofton returned to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in Wednesday night’s UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway. He climbed behind the wheel of Sharp-Gallaher Racing’s No. 6 Lofton Cattle Chevrolet Silverado and quickly knocked the rust off after a three-month hiatus from NCWTS competition. His 15.493-second qualifying lap earned him a ninth-place starting position for the 200-lap battle under the lights of the Bristol, Tenn. short track. A spinning truck brought out the yellow flag on lap 70. As the field slowed, Lofton reported that the Chevrolet was loose in the corners of the high-banked track. Crew chief Bryan Berry called for a track-bar adjustment to alleviate the handling issue. The adjustment and the cooling track temperatures created a tight-handling condition on the No. 6 machine during the next 100 laps, leaving Lofton with his hands full as he slipped to the 16th position. The lap-177 caution period gave the No. 6 team the opportunity to work on the truck’s handling. Berry instructed the Lofton Cattle team to make an air pressure adjustment and return the track bar to its original position. Trapped one lap down to the leader, Lofton was unable to make up any additional ground and crossed the finishing line in the 14th position. The Westmorland, Calif., native will return to the No. 6 Silverado at Iowa Speedway.

 

Justin Lofton Quote:

“It was great to be back in the No. 6 Lofton Cattle Chevrolet today. The team put together a great truck and we had a solid qualifying effort. Unfortunately, during our first pit stop we tightened the Lofton Cattle Silverado a little too much and we didn’t get the chance to make another stop for almost 100 laps. By then we were already trapped a lap down and in the Lucky Dog position. We never got the last caution needed to get back on the lead lap, so 14th was as high as we could climb. We know we have a fast truck and we learned a lot in our first weekend together as a team. I am definitely looking forward to taking this Chevy to Iowa (Speedway) with the No. 6 team and continuing to build on what we started at Bristol (Motor Speedway).”

 

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