Joey Coulter Perseveres For 12th-Place Finish at Charlotte

The makeup of a good team is not only shown on the good days, but those when the cards dealt are against your favor. Joey Coulter and the No. 21 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet faced handling issues throughout the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, but still managed to cross the finish in the 12th position.

 

“We fought handling issues with the Allegiant Travel Chevrolet for the majority of the race,” said Coulter. “The adjustments would help a little bit every time we came to pit road, but nothing seemed to make the truck come alive like we wanted. Some days are just tough but I know our luck has to turn around here soon. This GMS Racing team is capable of finishing inside the top-five and contending for wins.”  

 

After making it to the second round of knockout qualifying, Coulter placed his Allegiant Travel Silverado in the 17th starting position. During the opening 60 laps of the 134-lap event, Coulter reported to Crew Chief Jeff Stankiewicz the No. 21 Chevrolet was tight center off. As a caution slowed the field on lap 67, Coulter visited pit road for four tires, fuel, and three rounds up on the track bar. A solid stop by the GMS Racing pit crew allowed Coulter to restart from the 15th position.

 

One lap after the restart, another yellow flag was displayed and Coulter returned to pit road for a splash of fuel and a wedge adjustment. Running in 16th-place, the 23-year-old radioed to his Allegiant Travel crew that the truck “feels good in clean air but gets tight behind other trucks; can’t turn in the top groove.”

 

Coming back to pit road on lap 88, the Allegiant Travel pit crew serviced Coulter’s Chevrolet with four tires, fuel, and removed a spring rubber out of the left-rear. After the stop, Coulter restarted from the 19th position on lap 93 and the Miami Springs, Florida native started to move his way towards the top-10. By lap 115, Coulter was scored in ninth-place. Over the final laps, the handling continued to plague Coulter, but the driver persevered to finish in the 12th position. 

 

The next event on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule is the Lucas Oil 200 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway on Friday, May 30, 2014. The race starts at 5:30PM ET, with live television coverage on FOX Sports 1. The live radio broadcast can also be heard on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius-XM Satellite Radio.

 

GMS Racing PR