Following an impressive fourth place finish in his last outing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Gaulding returned to NCWTS competition for just his seventh start in the No.20 Gemini Southern / Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Chevrolet Silverado.
With two previous starts at the 1.058-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (NKNPSE), Gaulding used the three NCWTS practice sessions on Friday to get reacquainted with the track, it’s flat racing surface, and to fine tune his No.20 Gemini Southern / Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Chevrolet. Gaulding along with crew chief Chris Rice had a game plan for Saturday’s UNOH 175 with a main emphasis on track position.
Saturday morning kicked off with NASCAR’s knockout style qualifying. Gaulding posted the fourth quickest time in round one and the eleventh quickest time in round two, lining him up on the inside of row six for the afternoon’s UNOH 175. When the green flag dropped, Gaulding jumped inside the top-10 and made his way up to as high as 8th, where he settled in for the first twenty laps. As the green flag run continued on, Gaulding radioed in reporting his truck to be getting tight on exit and Crew Chief, Chris Rice advised his young driver to run his own race and they would work on it during the first caution. Gaulding fell just outside of the Top-10 and with no early race cautions, Rice called the No. 20 driver in for a green flag stop at lap sixty five. The pit crew changed four tires, fuel and made a chassis adjustment. A few laps into the run, Gaulding reported the handling to be better, but was now struggling with the forward drive and the chassis getting tight.
The first caution flag finally waved at lap 101 and Rice called Gaulding into the pits for his second stop of the day, to take on four tires, fuel, and another round of chassis adjustments. Once the track went back to green, Gray reported “the truck fires off great, but just gets tight in traffic, especially on the long green flag runs”. Rice responded and told Gray, “we’ll keep working on it, you’re doing just fine kid.” Gray continued to run his own race and work the track as the laps wound down and finished just outside of the Top-15, but on the lead lap.
From the Driver’s Seat with Gray Gaulding: “It was a constant battle all day. We were pretty good on the short runs, but on those long green flag runs, I would just get to tight especially in traffic. Chris Rice and all the guys continue to improve this program and we’re getting better but just have to keep improving each and every week.”
On top of Box with Crew Chief Chris Rice: “I said it once during the weekend ‘my momma always told me son you will have days like this, and she was right’. I hate it for Gray and all the guys on this NTS Motorsports team, they work harder than anyone and we’re not going to give up and not going to give in. We are using this last portion of the season to build towards where we need to be in 2015.”
NTS PR
