In a race where drafting was paramount, Tyler Young utilized several late race restarts in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Michigan International Speedway to vault to 10th place finish in the rain-delayed Careers for Veterans 200.
Making his first start since Eldora Speedway last month, Young and his Young’s Motorsports team utilized Friday’s practice sessions at the two-mile oval to dial in their No. 02 Young’s Building Systems / Randco Chevrolet Silverado posting the 21st and 18th quickest laps respectively.
Content with the balance of their race truck, Young maneuvered the 21st quickest lap in single-truck qualifying on Saturday morning. Although the Mooresville, North Carolina-based team wanted a better starting position, they felt confident in their truck capabilities of hustling in the draft.
Shortly before the start of the Careers for Veterans 200, Mother Nature rolled in and darkened the skies causing lightning and torrential rain to delay the event for nearly two and a half hours.
When the green flag flew shortly before 4:00 p.m. local time, Young quickly began picking off positions, one at a time moving as high as 17th before the driver radioed to crew chief Andrew Abbott that his truck was free on entry and tight in the center.
Young would have to wait until the expiration of the caution clock on Lap 31 for tires, fuel and an adjustment.
Restarting 20th, Young reported that his truck initially lost grip on the restart causing him to backslide a few positions. When a caution waved a lap shy of the halfway mark, Young pitted again for fuel only and two rounds on the track bar, hoping to correct the team’s handling issue.
Racing resumed with Young 22nd where he held the position following another quick caution for debris in Turn 1. With Abbott realizing the potential that the race could play out into a fuel-mileage race, he brought his driver back down pit road to top off the tank.
Making quick work of the competition on a Lap 56 restart, Young would climb to 20th, before a Lap 70 caution would bring the Midland, Texas native down pit road for his final stop.
With fresh tires, fuel and an adjustment to help with his looseness, Young would begin his charge through the front. Utilizing the draft and with help from spotter Rocky Ryan he was able to avoid a two-truck incident ahead.
Restarting with 17 laps to go, Young would again press forward and avoid another incident ahead of him to move into 11th. An eight lap shootout saw Young take advantage of Austin Wayne Self on the restart and climb to 10th where he was able to hold off Bristol winner Ben Kennedy for his second top-10 finish of the season at the checkered flag.
Tyler Young Quote:
“It felt really good to be back and to come back the way we did with a top-10 finish, I’m ecstatic.
“You can compare Michigan to a third restrictor plate track where the draft was crucial and trust with you spotter was everything. We had a good truck. We kept working on it throughout practice and through qualifying I felt like we were going to be in good shape for the race.
“We had some handling issues during the race, but Andrew (Abbott, crew chief) made some good calls and we kept tweaking on our No. 02 Young’s Building Systems / Randco Chevrolet Silverado getting it best for when it counted most.
“The draft was crazy there at the end, but we played it smart, stayed in line and earned a 10th place finish. I’m stoked. We’ll go back to the shop and keep working on it and hope we can get a few more top-10 finishes before the end of the year.”
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