Kennedy Earns First Pole Award and Matches Career-Best Finish of Third in First Visit to Atlanta

Ben Kennedy earned his first career pole award, and drove to a third-place finish in the Hyundai Construction Equipment 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Making his first visit to the Hampton, Georgia race track, the 2014 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year posted the 13th-fastest time in Friday’s practice session. Kennedy returned Saturday morning and advanced the No. 11 Local Motors Toyota Tundra to the final round of knock-out qualifying where he was the only competitor to record a lap time to earn the Keystone Light pole award. When the green flag dropped that evening, Kennedy led the first lap and then settled into the second position until the first caution of the race occurred on lap 12. Restarting in the outside line, he found the track’s surface to be slick and fell back temporarily in the running order. Reporting a slight tight condition on the black and white Tundra, he brought the machine to pit road for routine four-tire pit stops on three occasions throughout the 130-lap event where crew chief Scott Zipadelli called for minor chassis and air pressure adjustments. Kennedy was a mainstay in the top five for the final half of the event, and powered to a third-place result, matching his career-best finish.

 

Start – 1

Finish – 3

Driver Points Position – 7

Laps Led – 1

 

Ben Kennedy Quote:

We had a great run tonight in the Local Motors Toyota Tundra and were really good on the long runs. This was my first visit to Atlanta Motor Speedway and I really like it. I learned a lot this weekend. The track has a lot of character and it’s a lot of fun. To come back and finish third here after our weekend at Daytona (International Speedway) it felt like a win and shows how hard everyone at Red Horse Racing works – at the shop and at the track. Scott (Zipadelli) came in a month or so ago and has the No. 11 team working really well. Thank you to Local Motors for coming on board with us, too. I’m just really excited for this year.”

 

RHR PR