Brett Moffitt endured a trying evening at Kentucky Speedway which resulted in an 18th-place finish. The three-time race winner on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series tour this year settled for an uncharacteristic result after wrestling with an ill-tempered balance on the No. 16 ADVICS / AISIN Group Toyota Tundra. Despite Thursday night’s result, Moffitt remains third in the championship standings and holds the second position on the NCWTS Playoff Grid.
Moffitt began the night from the 13th position, and immediately encountered handling issues similar to what he and the ADVICS / AISIN Group team fought in the morning practices. The handling on corner entry was too free and was compounded by being too tight in the center and exit of each corner. He finished Stage 1 in 15th position and immediately came to pit road for adjustments under the caution.
Crew chief Scott Zipadelli and the HRE team gave Moffitt four tires and significant chassis adjustments before the lap 42 restart, but those did not offer significant improvement. Moffitt ran in 12th position for the majority of Stage 2 with similar handing ailments and held that position to the end of the stage on lap 70.
By taking four tires on the first pit stop, Zipadelli was able to give Moffitt two tires under the stage break and bought the team much needed track position and restarted third on lap 77. Even with further chassis adjustments, Moffitt reported his tight conditions worsened throughout the race’s final stage and relegated him down the running order. With less than 40 laps to go, Moffitt pitted for four tires during a green flag pit cycle and was forced to return to pit road with a tire issue. Moffitt cycled back to 19th position two laps down on lap 127. Over the final 23 circuits, Moffitt gained one position to take the checkered flag in 18th and held his position in the championship standings.
Brett Moffitt Quote:
“We just missed the balance tonight on our ADVICS / AISIN Group Toyota. It’s disappointing because of how well we’ve run on the 1.5-mile track all season. This is a tough race team, so we’ll go back to the shop tomorrow, go over all our notes and learn what we can do when we go to Pocono in a few weeks. We’ll focus on Eldora next week and see what we can do on dirt.”
