Gaulding Scores First Top-10 Oval Truck Finish at NHMS

Gray Gaulding came to the Granite state looking for a rock-solid finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS). While it was not quite the finish he was hoping for, he was able to overcome a few obstacles along the 175-lap race to earn his first top-10 finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on an oval track. His fourth-place finish last year came on a road course.
 
Gaulding started the race in eighth place and moved into the top five within the first 32 laps. Following a lengthy red flag to clean up oil on the track, he pitted on lap 40 for new tires and a wedge adjustment to help the tight condition of the No. 54 Krispy Kreme Tundra. He returned to the track in seventh place when the race resumed on lap 45.
 
The Tundra started loose, but improved as the green-flag run continued. By lap 100 Gaulding was sixth and the team made a green-flag pit stop for fuel and tires on lap 112. Unfortunately a caution came on lap 137 before the entire field had cycled through green-flag stops which left him in 17th place, one lap down. Gaulding took the waive-around to return to the lead lap, but was still back in 16th for the restart.
 
He spent the remainder of the race trying to gain back his lost track position. Never one to give up, he moved into 10th place with one lap to go and was able to finish the race there.
 
“I feel like we had a really good Krispy Kreme Tundra all weekend,” Gaulding said.  “We knew top five, top six is where we probably would have finished, but we had a bad pit stop and unfortunately that kind of put us back and then we got a caution we didn’t need to get, so that put us behind. We never quit fighting. We still ended up in the top 10.
 
“I can’t thank Krispy Kreme, Toyota, Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM), Shannon (Rursch, crew chief) and all these guys enough. It was really fun to have a solid truck as soon as we unloaded. It was good we got a top 10, but I know we should have been better. You’ve just got to roll with the punches sometimes.”
 
Austin Dillon won the race followed by Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter, Timothy Peters and John Hunter Nemecheck rounded out the top five. KBM’s Erik Jones was seventh and owner-driver Kyle Busch was 11th. The No. 54 team remains 12th in the owner’s championship point standings.

KBM PR