Wilton, Calif. native Dylan Lupton fought through a series of obstacles Saturday, but rallied to a noteworthy 12th place finish in his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) debut at Talladega Superspeedway for Young’s Motorsports.
While the team massaged their No. 02 Breast Cancer Awareness / Randco Chevrolet to its finest, Lupton headed out in the final minutes of first practice to get accustomed to his race truck. With a positive feel, Lupton participated in the final session a short time later, where the NASCAR Next alumnus tugged onto a small draft to log the 13th fastest time heading into race day.
In qualifying, Lupton’s lap time was hindered with a right front flat tire, which was punctured by a piece of debris on the 2.66-mile superspeedway. Still, Lupton managed to post the 27th fastest time, earning his way into the field on speed.
Lupton would start the fred’s 250 from the rear of the field because of the tire change, but quickly found a place to ride until the first caution waved on Lap 18 for an expired engine.
Under the direction of crew chief Andrew Abbott, Lupton pitted for two tires and restarted inside the top-15.
On the restart, Lupton found himself in a huge drafting pack until the race pack was rested on Lap 36 for a stalled truck. During the yellow, Lupton pitted again for two left side tires and fuel – once again putting him inside the top-15 for the restart.
Five laps after the restart on Lap 43, a six-truck crash broke out in front of Lupton, but with guidance from spotter Chris Monez, Lupton avoided the melee unscathed.
Racing resumed with Lupton inside the top-10 and inching his way forward, but on Lap 51, Lupton got loose in the tri-oval, sucking his No. 02 Breast Cancer Awareness / Randco Chevrolet around, but Lupton brilliantly kept his truck off the wall and suffered minimal damage in the spin.
With flat tires, Lupton returned to pit road for service, where he restarted at the back of the field, but on the lead lap.
Nine laps later than Lupton’s incident, the coveted “Big One” broke out at Talladega igniting a 14-truck accident on in Turn 1. Lupton slithered his way through the chaos with minor front-end damage.
Still on the lead lap, Lupton was able to again make his way from the back of the pack to inside the top-20 when a charge on the last lap bolted Lupton to a 12th place finish at the checkered flag.
Dylan Lupton Quote:
“It was definitely an eventful day, but in the end we came out with a pretty good finish with our No. 02 Breast Cancer Awareness / Randco Chevrolet Silverado. We were just biding our time there at the start and through some pit strategy – we worked our way forward. I got loose in the tri-oval and lost it. Luckily, we didn’t hurt the truck and then still managed to escape the Big One without much damage too.
“From there it was trying to get to the end with the best finish possible for Tyler (Young, co-owner / team manager) and the Young’s Motorsports guys. I was aggressive on the last lap and I bumped Cameron Hayley hard on the backstretch and he got sideways and wrecked. I hate that. I didn’t mean to do that. I was just trying to help us go and it didn’t work. I’m thankful for the learning experience at Talladega and I hope to be back in a truck soon.”
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