Brian Ickler Perseveres at Martinsville Speedway to Bring Home a Top-10 Finish

Brian Ickler started the postponed Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway from the seventh position on Sunday evening, and battled in the closing laps to finish 10th in the second race on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule. The 36-truck field took the green flag on Sunday following the NASCAR Cup Series event at the famed 0.526-mile Virginia short track and was faced with a much changed racing surface than they had practiced on Friday afternoon. In the opening laps, Ickler reported to crew chief Chris Carrier that the No. 7 Bullet Liner Toyota Tundra lacked right rear grip around the paper clip-shaped speedway. Carrier called for air pressure and chassis adjustments during each of the three scheduled pit stops in an effort to combat the loose-handling condition. The California native calmly maneuvered through spinning trucks as the intensity picked up in the closing laps. The late-race cautions forced two attempts at a green-white-checkered finish. Exercising patience when tempers typically begin to flare, Ickler was in the 10th position when the field was frozen due to the final yellow flag on the white-flag lap, earning his 11th top-10 finish in 24 career Camping World Truck Series starts and climbing to 13th in the driver championship point standings.

Start – 7                      

Finish – 10                  

Driver Points Position – 13                  

Laps Led – 0

Brian Ickler Quote:
“We had a solid weekend here at Martinsville (Speedway); this 10th-place finish doesn’t really show how good this team is. The No. 7 Bullet Liner Toyota Tundra was fast all day on Friday, but coming back today and racing after the (NASCAR Sprint) Cup Series cars laid down 500 laps of rubber, the track was really slick. My crew chief Chris (Carrier) and the No. 7 guys worked really hard to adjust the truck’s handling and get me what I needed. It’s going to be hard to sit and wait to go to Kansas (Speedway) in May. April is going to be a long month. I am ready to climb back in the No. 7 Toyota Tundra right now and get back at it.” 

RHR PR