ThorSport Racing – 2018 Atlanta Motor Speedway Recap

BEN RHODES BATTLES BACK TO FOURTH AFTER FACING MOTOR MYSTERY 
 
“I think [the motor issues] plagued us in qualifying, that’s why we started so far back. It’s just really disappointed because I felt like we had the truck to beat tonight. Our Ford F-150 was really fast tonight. I feel like I’m disappointed with fourth-place because I feel like we should have won. There were times during the race where I’d go a second and a half without power in the corners – the motor would just completely die. Then, going down the straightaways, it felt like I was even on six or seven cylinders at times – I would just watch people drive by. The whole race, it plagued us, and we couldn’t figure out what it was. I’m really disappointed with it – we have a championship team and we’re making championship runs, I’m just disappointed we couldn’t get the stage points we deserved, we had to come down and pit so many times, but disappointing – that’s the story of the day.”
 
2018 Stats:
Starts: 2 
Laps Completed: 234 of 234  
Laps Led: 0 
Wins: 0
Top-five Finishes: 1 
Top-10 Finishes: 1

 
Atlanta Race Information:
Started: 2nd
Stage 1 Position: 2nd
Stage 2 Position: 4th
Finished: 5th
Laps: 134/134
Laps Led: 7
Status: Running
Driver Points: 2nd
Owner Points: 2nd
 
A BIG GAIN IN POINTS FOR MATT CRAFTON FOLLOWING A TOP-FIVE RUN AT ATLANTA
 
Talk about the green-white-checkered flag finish in today’s Active Pest Control 200…
 
“Brett (Moffitt) cleared him, and cleared him in perfect timing, by the time we got to Turn 1. Myatt (Snider) started to come down, and that’s the last thing I wanted to do was pile all of our teammates up – I believe we were all three-wide at that point. I lost my momentum, and the 18 got that huge run on us, so it’s easy to say now, but I shouldn’t have lifted. We just fought tight, really, really tight, from the second run on, from enter to center, and just couldn’t get the handling dialed-in tonight.”
 
2018 Stats:
Starts: 2
Laps Completed: 231 of 234
Laps Led: 7
Wins: 0
Top-five Finishes: 1
Top-10 Finishes: 1

 


Atlanta Race Information:
Started: 19th, Row 10
Stage 1 Finish: 17th
Stage 2 Finish: 16th  
Finished: 7th 
Laps: 134/134
Laps Led: 3 
Status: Running
Driver Points: 12th 
Owner Points: 13th 
 
LATE RACE PIT STOP PAYS OFF FOR MYATT SNIDER 
 
“Obviously, four tires always beats two at Atlanta. This place wears out tires so bad, but we had been running really good on our last run. We just needed track position, so I think [two tires] was definitely the right call to get up front and get into clear air. If we had four tires, I think we could have easily gone for the win. We had a great day, especially for how we ran, but the ThorSport guys gave me a really good Ford F-150. You always want the best for your team, but considering how everything went, I consider it a pretty good result. I’m pretty happy with it – it’s definitely a great start to the year and we’re going to keep clicking away.”
 
2018 Stats:
Starts: 2
Laps Completed: 207 of 234 
Laps Led: 3  
Wins: 0 
Top-five Finishes: 0 
Top-10 Finishes: 1 
 
 
Atlanta Race Information:
Started: 16th
Stage 1 Position: 8th
Stage 2 Position: 6th
Finished: 9th 
Laps: 134/134
Laps Led: 0
Status: Running 
Driver Points: 3rd 
Owner Points: 3rd 
 
TOP-10 FINISH FOR GRANT ENFINGER AT ATLANTA
 
“We just kind of teeter tottered on the balance a little bit today. When we hit it, I wouldn’t abuse the tires too much at the beginning of the run, and we could really make hay in the middle, and end, of a run. If I pushed it too hard at the beginning, we could be in a little bit of a better spot track position wise, but I’d loose it at the tail end of a run. Proud of our guys at ThorSport Racing for bringing us a fast Ford F-150 to the track – this is a better truck than we had last year – we were better prepared. We still have some weak areas we need to fix on the track, and off, but I’m proud of the effort and happy with the progress we’re making.”
 
2018 Stats:
Starts: 2
Laps Completed: 234 of 234
Laps Led: 2
Wins: 0
Top-five Finishes: 0 
Top-10 Finishes: 2
 
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