Heartbreak for Jason White at Bristol

Joe Denette Motorsports’ driver, Jason White, led 43 laps in Wednesday night’s O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) but ran out of fuel with 19 laps remaining in the 200-lap event, finishing 16th.

Starting 20th, White made quick-work of the trucks ahead of him, settling into the top-12 by lap 17. With pit strategy in mind, White brought his GunBroker.com Chevrolet to the attention of his crew for four tires including an air pressure adjustment, and fuel at lap 32. When racing resumed on lap 36, the No. 23 machine was scored 24th.

17 laps later, a two-truck incident in turn-three brought out the third caution of the evening. All the leaders that had not pit prior to this caution made their way down pit road. White took over the lead under caution and led the field back to green at lap 58.

White held on to the top spot for the next 39 circuits until a restart on lap 97 when the No. 2 machine of Kevin Harvick eventually claimed the lead. As the laps wound down, White would remain in the second position as he attempted to save fuel.

It wasn’t until a caution at lap 180 that White radioed into the crew that the GunBroker.com Chevrolet was sputtering. Just one lap later, White was stalled on the front stretch. After a push around the track by the safety crew, White made his way down pit road for fuel. When racing resumed on lap 183, the Richmond, VA native was scored 21st, one lap down.

Crew chief, Chad Kendrick brought the No. 23 machine down pit road under the evening’s ninth and final caution for four tires. Restarting 19th with 10 laps remaining, White made one last sprint to finish 16th behind race winner, Kevin Harvick.

Jason White Quotes:

“We actually had enough fuel in the truck to go to lap 202. However, under caution here, all the fuel goes to the left side of the fuel cell, due to the high banking, and we just lost fuel pressure causing the engine to sputter and ultimately, shut off. It’s heartbreaking, that’s for sure but we had a strong truck here tonight and we went down swinging. It’s hard to lose one like that; the results monitor definitely doesn’t reflect where we ran all night. I think we spent more than half of the race inside the top-two.”

Joe Denette Motorsports PR