Tough Day for Tommy Baldwin Racing at Sonoma

Tommy Baldwin Racing (TBR) had a tough day in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Sonoma on Sunday. Tomy Drissi made his series debut in the No. 10 Ice Age: Continental Drift Chevrolet. A lap 82 incident ended his day early, and he finished 38th. Dave Blaney started 32nd and was on point for a solid finish before a fuel pressure problem and broken trackbar ended his day early. The No. 36 Chevrolet finished in 37th place.
 
Tomy Drissi – No. 10 Ice Age: Continental Drift Chevrolet:
Drissi took his first laps in a NSCS car on Friday for practice and qualifying. As he worked to get comfortable with the bigger car on the track, the California native captured the 41st starting spot for Sunday’s race.
 
He took the green flag from the 41st position and worked his way to the 38th spot as he drove through turn 10 on the first lap. By lap five, the No. 10 Ice Age: Continental Drift Chevrolet moved into the 36th position, and Drissi radioed that the car needed to turn better. Still struggling to get the car to turn, Drissi fell to the 38th position before green-flag pit stops began.
 
On lap 28, Crew Chief Ryan Pemberton called the NSCS rookie down pit road for a four-tire pit stop and air pressure adjustment. During the stop, Drissi was caught speeding on pit road and had to make a drive-through penalty with the No. 10 Ice Age: Continental Drift Chevrolet. After the penalty, he returned to the track in the 38th position, two laps down.
 
When pit stops cycled through, the No. 10 Ice Age: Continental Drift Chevrolet was in the 37th spot, one lap down. By lap 45, Drissi held the 38th position, one lap down, and struggled with a loose handling racecar as well as having trouble turning. He fell a second lap down on lap 51.
 
Pemberton called the No. 10 Chevrolet down pit road on lap 60 for a four-tire pit stop and air pressure and trackbar adjustment. Drissi worked up to the 35th position by lap 76 but still struggled with a loose racecar. On lap 82, an on-track incident in turn 10 caused severe damage to the No. 10 Ice Age: Continental Drift Chevrolet ending the team’s day early. The Ice Age: Continental Drift Chevrolet finished in 38th place in Drissi’s NSCS debut.
 
“It was a disappointing day,” explained Drissi. “The car needed to turn better. As the race went on, we got better on the speed charts. Unfortunately, an incident in turn eight ended our day early. I’ve just got to thank Ice Age: Continental Drift, TBR and Racers Drive for making my first NSCS start a reality.”
 
The No. 10 Chevrolet is now 34th in the NSCS Owner Points and locked into the top-35 by 62 points. The TBR team is two points behind the No. 32 and three points ahead of the No. 36 TBR Chevrolet.
 
Dave Blaney – No. 36 Chevrolet:
Blaney returned to Sonoma for his 12th start at the 1.99-mile road course. He drove the No. 36 Chevrolet to the 32nd starting spot. The Hartford, Ohio native moved into the 27th position by lap 31 before making a scheduled pit stop on lap 32.
 
The No. 36 Chevrolet returned to the track in the 33rd position, one lap down. When the first round of pit stops were concluded on lap 37, Blaney held the 32nd position on the lead lap. He moved into the 31st spot by lap 44.
 
On lap 50, he had a problem with fuel pressure, so the team worked to replace the fuel line and get Blaney back on track. Nine laps later, the No. 36 Chevrolet returned to the track in the 38th position.
 
Unfortunately, on lap 91, the trackbar broke on the No. 36 Chevrolet forcing Blaney to retire early. The team finished in 37th place, 28 laps down.
 
The No. 36 team is now 35th in NSCS Owner Points and locked into the top-35 by 59 points. They trail the No. 10 TBR Chevrolet by three points. Blaney is 33rd in NSCS Driver Points. He is eight points behind Landon Cassill and 21 points ahead of teammate David Reutimann.
 
“It was a tough day for us,” commented Blaney. “The car wasn’t bad, and we were on point to get a solid top-25 finish. Unfortunately, we had something get into the fuel system and had to come in to fix that, and then the trackbar broke. I’m excited to head to Kentucky and see what we can do with our mile-and-a-half program.”

TBR