Germán Quiroga came home with a disappointing 23rd-place finish after an engine failure on lap 54 ended his night early at Texas Motor Speedway. The Mexico City native was fast in both practice sessions on Thursday evening, finishing eighth in the first and leading the final practice of the day. He advanced to the final round of qualifying and earned an eighth-place starting position for the No. 77 NET10 Wireless team. Shortly after taking the green flag he told his crew chief, Butch Hylton, that the Toyota Tundra was a bit too loose. Quiroga brought the blue and white Toyota Tundra down pit road where the team gave him four fresh tires, fuel and made a track bar adjustment. Once he was back on the race track he reported to the team that the changes significantly improved the handling and he began to work his way through the pack. Quiroga was running in the 12th position when the engine failure occurred and was scored in 23rd when the checkered flag was displayed, ending his impressive five-race, top-10 finish streak for the 2014 season.
Start – 8
Finish – 23
Driver Points Position – 6
Laps Led – 0
Germán Quiroga Quote:
“What a tough night for my team. We came to Texas [Motor Speedway] with such high hopes after finishing so well here last year, and to end the night like we did is just heartbreaking. Unfortunately, it was a situation that was out of our control, but we’ll work hard and be ready to race next week at Gateway [Motorsports Park]. I can’t thank NET10 Wireless, OtterBox, Toyota and the entire Red Horse Racing organization enough for all of their hard work and support.”
RHR PR