Guenette Battles Hard to Bring Home Solid Top 10 at Martinsville

Alex Guenette made a big splash in his first-career start with Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM) in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) at Martinsville Speedway, bringing home a solid ninth-place finish for the No. 32 Motos Illimitées/DLGL Chevrolet. After doing well in practice and qualifying, Guenette fought in and around the top 15 for most of the race before moving into the top 10 in the race’s final 30 laps, ultimately bringing home a ninth-place finish.

Guenette started the weekend on a good note, putting down the sixth- and 11th- quickest laps in Friday’s two practice sessions. The 18-year-old followed that up by advancing to the final round of knockout qualifying, earning the 12th starting position. As the race began, Guenette settled into the top 15 for the opening 100 laps, racing in and around the 11th position. Guenette was still looking strong at lap 113, but he suffered slight damage when an incident occurred in front of his No. 32 Motos Illimitées/DLGL Chevy Silverado. Despite losing some track position, Guenette continued on and was scored in 16th on lap 116. Crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. assured Guenette that if he continued to race hard, the rest of the competitors would come back to him. Guenette took the advice of his veteran crew chief and slowly went to work moving through the field. When the red flag was displayed for a wreck in Turn 1, Guenette maintained the 16th position. However, when the race resumed, Guenette went back to work, looking to move to the front. By lap 172, Guenette was in the top 10 and running some of the fastest laps on the racetrack. With less than 20 laps to go, Guenette was in seventh and looking to fight for a top-five position before a late-race caution with 11 laps to go put the young driver on the high side of the racetrack for the final restart. Starting in the less-favorable lane, Guenette lost a few positions as the race resumed. The young rookie battled to stay in the top 10, bringing home a ninth-place finish in his first-career start with TSM. The ninth-place result was a career-best finish for Guenette in just his third start in the NCWTS.

 

Alex Guenette on bringing home a top-10 finish:

“What a great race we had in my No. 32 Motos Illimitées/DLGL Chevrolet. To be able to run inside the top 10 in the closing laps was awesome; it was a great learning experience. I’m glad we were able to hold on and bring home a solid top-10 finish. I can’t thank everyone at TSM enough, especially Mike Hillman Jr. and the entire No. 32 team. They put a ton of work into this truck and supported me all weekend long. I’m really glad we were able to finish strong together.”

 

TSM PR