Lofton, ESR Team 20th in Indianapolis

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In: NASCAR Truck Series News

Justin Lofton and the No. 6 CollegeComplete.com (http://www.collegecomplete.com) Eddie Sharp Racing (ESR) team battled throughout the AAA Insurance 200 at Lucas Oil Raceway on Friday and after completing all 137 miles, ended the night in the 20th position.


“We made changes on the truck all day and as the race went on, it got better. It was handling okay there towards the end. We just seemed to have a bit of a challenge with getting the CollegeComplete.com Toyota to roll through the center. We’ll take it and move on to Pocono, which is a good track for me and this ESR team,” Lofton said.


With another one-day show on the schedule, Lofton and the Dan Bormann led No. 6 team took to the .686-mile track early for two practice runs. After the final session, Lofton showed 13th on the speed chart. A late qualifying run left Lofton 24th for the start of the race.


Once the green flag waved, he got to work, muscling his Toyota around the short track as he battled a tight condition, holding out for the first pit stop of the day. Due to rain in the area, NASCAR waved the second yellow flag of the event on lap 41. The yellow allowed Lofton to rejoin the lead lap, and visit pit road. The team took on a number of adjustments by the way of spring rubbers and moving the track bar. He rejoined the event 21st for the restart on lap 57.


The race then remained green through lap 81. At the time, Lofton radioed to his team that he liked the previous changes and felt like they could go even further. Bormann agreed and called Lofton to pit road for another adjustment.


The race resumed and despite a few occasional raindrops, hit the halfway mark with Lofton knocking on the door of the top-15.


As the final round of pit stops began to inch closer during the second half of the race, Lofton said that the truck continued to struggle as it drove through the center of the turns.


While running 14th on lap 184, Lofton made his only green flag pit stop of the night. The team added four fresh tires and sent him back on track for the final 15 laps.


The cycle of pit stops and various pit strategy in the closing laps resulted in a 20th place showing for Lofton and the No. 6 CollegeComplete.com team.

Justin Lofton PR

Speedway Digest Staff
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