The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) returned to Martinsville (Va.) Speedway for Saturday’s Kroger 250, the third race on the 2015 schedule. Making his fourth start at the half-mile “paperclip,” Tyler Young, driver of the No. 02 Randco Industries/Young’s Building Systems Chevrolet Silverado, posted the seventh-fastest time on the speed charts in Friday’s lone NCWTS practice. The Young’s Motorsports driver followed up his performance from practice with a 10th-place starting position for Saturday’s 250-lap event, tying his career-best start of 10th at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway (2014).
Starting 10th, Young made an early move at the drop of the green flag that shot him into the sixth position on lap two, but a tight-handling Chevrolet Silverado, and lap traffic, forced Young to the high-side and the Midland, Texas native got shuffled back to the 12th position by lap 25.
Young ran solidly inside the top-15 for the next 75 laps until fading back to the 23rd position, one lap down to the race leaders, following a long green-flag run near the race’s half-way mark. With only two cautions slowing the field down in the first-half of the race, the final 103 laps saw seven caution flags for 39 laps.
Stuck in the top line on the ensuing restarts, Young continued to race for the “Lucky Dog” position, but could not make ground on the leader, due to tire wear. Mired inside the top-20 in the closing laps, Young received relief when the 35 truck spun in Turn 4, bringing out the eighth caution flag of the afternoon at lap 216. Crew chief Bryan Berry brought the No. 02 Silverado to pit road for four tires, fuel, and adjustments in an effort to finish the last 30 laps out strong.
The Midland, Texas native, in his second full-time season in the NCWTS, was able to rocket into the 17th position, with five laps remaining, when Cole Custer slowed down his momentum, bringing out the ninth and final caution flag of the afternoon, setting the field up for a green-white-checker finish. Unfortunately, Young got hung out on the high side on the final restart and was forced to cross the line in the 20th position behind race winner, Joey Logano. The strong performance was Young’s second top-20 finish in four starts at the half-mile track.
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“Overall I had a good weekend, really. Our finish wasn’t what we wanted or expected but the guys worked really hard and got the truck going in the right direction. We just needed a little help after 20-25 laps. It just seemed like we couldn’t keep tires on it. So we will go back and work on it for the next race at Kansas Speedway. We’ve definitely come a long way from last year. I can’t thank all the guys at the shop and everybody on the team enough. They’ve all done a good job. I’m really excited for the rest of the year. I’m looking forward to Kansas. We ran really well there last year, so I can’t wait to get back.”
Young Motorsports PR
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