2020 GMS Racing Gander Trucks Charlotte Recap

Sheldon Creed, No. 2 Chevy Accesories Chevrolet Silverado

START: 21st

FINISH: 5th        

POINTS: 6th

Notes & Quotes:—

– Sheldon Creed started 21st for Tuesday night’s event. Creed pitted under the competition caution on Lap 15. The team continued to make adjustments to improve the handling and Creed cracked the top 10 to start the final stage of the race. Creed battled for position with most of the top 10 and ultimately finished fifth.

– This is Creed’s first top-five finish of the season and his fourth consecutive top-10 finish.

– Creed is currently sixth in the points standings, 30 points behind the leader.

“What a race tonight. I fired off there and was all over the place. I had my hands full. I was loose in, on the splitter, shooting up the track. I was on the breaks the first stage getting in the corner which is not something you do in a truck. Great adjustments by my guys all night. Any time we hit pit road we made huge gains. Every time on a restart I couldn’t really go, I was struggling there.After 10 or 15 laps I would run people back down and I could really run the bottom where a lot of people were stuck to the PJ1 which I think was really helping me. Pit crew was awesome, any time we hit pit road we made up spots even with our big adjustments. Thanks to Josh Wise and our guys for all the hard work lately and all the time they put into me with practice. I’m just trying to maximize everything I can outside of what the truck is doing. Pit road, restarts, everything. I’m just trying to do the best job I can. Thanks to my guys for working on this thing all night. Derek (Kneeland, spotter) for spotting me. I know I put him in some tough situations there where I was sliding across people’s noses and just trying to get where I could. Thank to everyone at GMS and Chevy and everyone that helps our program out. My whole family, my grandpa. It was a fun night, fifth place finish and looking forward to Atlanta.”

Zane Smith, No. 21 La Paz Chevrolet Silverado

START: 30th

FINISH: 3rd        

POINTS: 3rd

Notes & Quotes:—

– Zane Smith started 30th as a result of the random draw held Sunday. Smith pitted under the competition caution of Lap 15 to address a loose condition and would climb through the field to finish third in stage one. Smith led the field to green for stage two and floated inside the top 10 for the remainder of the race, ultimately battling to finish third.

– Smith was the highest finishing rookie. This is Smith’s first top-five finish of the season.

– Smith led twice for a total of 15 laps.

– Smith is currently third in points, 17 points behind the leader.

“Tonight was an awesome night. Thank you GMS, they gave me an awesome truck right off the hauler.I was worried tonight starting 30th, that I wouldn’t be able to get to the front. I was worried about not getting stage points, but I think we finished the first stage third and the second stage seventh and then ended up third overall behind Chase (Elliott) and Kyle (Busch). Congrats to Chase that’s cool for him and GMS Racing. I don’t know how much money is on the line, but I know it’s a good bit. To finish third to those two is hard to hang your head about, but those are two pretty good ones. Also huge shout out to La Paz Margarita Mix. They’ve been with me from the get go. I can’t thank them enough. Overall awesome night and we’ll get them at Atlanta.”

Brett Moffitt, No. 23 Plan B Sales Chevrolet Silverado

START: 22nd

FINISH: 4th        

POINTS: 5th

Notes & Quotes:—

– Brett Moffitt started 22nd, but had battled up to 13th by Lap 2. Moffitt collected stage points with a 10th-place finish in stage one. The team continued to make adjustments throughout the night and Moffitt finished sixth in stage two. After battling through traffic and navigating around several on track incidents, Moffitt brought his No. 23 home in the fourth position.

– Moffitt led once for two laps.

– Moffitt is currently fifth in the championship points standings, 22 points behind the leader.

“I’m really proud of Chad (Norris, crew chief) and everyone at GMS for bringing a fast Chevy Silverado tonight. This was a major turn around from Vegas. I felt like we had a truck capable of winning if we could have gotten better track position. If i had done a better job of getting through traffic we might have been able to give them a run for it at the end there. We’ll take our first top five of the season and move on to Atlanta.”

Chase Elliott, No. 24 iRacing Chevrolet Silverado

START: 26th

FINISH: 1st

POINTS: N/A

Notes & Quotes:—

– Chase Elliott won Tuesday’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This is Elliott’s third victory in 13 Gander Trucks starts.

– With the win, Elliott collected the $100,000 “bounty” put forth by Kevin Harvick and Marcus Lemonis for the NASCAR Cup Series regular who could beat Kyle Busch in a Gander Trucks race. The money will be donated to COVID-19 relief efforts.

– Elliott led three times for a total of 47 laps.

“It was a lot of fun. First off thanks to iRacing and Hooters, Chevrolet and GMS for letting me come do this. It was a lot of fun. I really appreciate Charles (Denike, crew chief) and this whole 24 team for what they did in getting this thing prepared. It was really good from the get go with having no laps and the splitter being where it needed to be. It’s really hard to get right so they did a nice job and made it easy on me to move forward and try to get back acclimated, it had been a long time. It doesn’t make up for Sunday, but it was still a really good night. Glad to win and do some good for the relief efforts for this virus. Just appreciate the effort. It was a lot of fun and to be able to come out and outrun Kyle (Busch) with him finishing second. I would much rather him finish second than wreck or something. I feel like I did something right.”

Tyler Ankrum, No. 26 LiUNA! Chevrolet Silverado

START: 2nd

FINISH: 13th

POINTS: 9th

Notes & Quotes:—

– Tyler Ankrum started second for Tuesday night’s event and would collect stage points in the first stage by finishing ninth. Ankrum was happy with his Silverado at the conclusion of stage two, but was caught up in an incident on Lap 81 that forced him to pit to correct damage and took him out of contention.

– Ankrum is currently ninth in championship points standings, 44 points behind the leader.

“Tonight was a rough first race back. We got caught up in an accident which put us out of contention. We have a lot to improve on, but it was only the third race of the season and we have a lot of time. I have faith in my team and what we are capable of. We will push on and put this behind us going into Atlanta.”

 

GMS Racing PR