Ryan Truex and the No. 83 Borla Exhaust Toyota Camry team finished in the 42nd position at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon. After a flat right front tire caused Truex to have hard contact with the outside retaining wall, the BK Racing team was forced to retire early from the 500-lap event.
Making his second start at the track known as the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile,” Truex rolled off 40th for Sunday’s Food City 500. Morning rain delayed the initial race start, and with all the rubber washed off the track surface, the showers also prompted NASCAR to call for a mandatory competition caution just 50 laps in to the event. Making minor adjustments to their Toyota Camry throughout the early portion of the race, the BK Racing team also had to remove tape from the grill when Truex noticed climbing water temperatures just 70 laps into the race.
Not long after, the red flag was displayed on lap 125 for heavy rain passing through Bristol, Tenn. The rain would delay the race for nearly three and half hours, as track officials worked to dry the track surface and resume the 500-lap event. Once the race restarted, the BK Racing team continued to make minor chassis and air pressure adjustments to fine-tune the handling of the Borla Exhaust Toyota.
By lap 275, Truex was making progress and slowly climbing through the field. However, that progress was halted on lap 270 when the No. 83 Borla Exhaust Toyota Camry suffered a flat right front tire in turn two. After making hard contact with the outside wall, Truex brought his heavily damaged car to the attention of his crew on pit road. After careful assessment of the damage, the team made the official call to retire from the race on lap 336. As a result, Truex was scored with a 42nd-place finish.
“Well, we didn’t finish the race in the way we had hoped today,” commented Truex. “Our Borla Exhaust team worked really hard preparing for this race, and we were excited to get to one of the tracks where I have some previous experience in a Sprint Cup Series car. We were making some progress in the race, but unfortunately we had a problem that was beyond our control. The flat tire caused us to hit the wall and the damage was just too severe to continue. I’m disappointed for everyone-my team, my sponsors-but we’ll just keep at it, go back to the shop and get ready for the next one. I’m looking forward to racing at Auto Club Speedway next week.”
BK Racing PR
