Coming off a second-place finish at Salem (Ind.) Speedway one week ago, Spencer Gallagher entered the International Motorsports Hall of Fame 200 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway with one goal: bring home the No. 23 Alamo Rent A Car Chevrolet at the front of the field. Gallagher achieved his goal, as the Las Vegas native crossed the finish in the fifth position. This was Gallagher’s second consecutive top-five finish and third top-10 of the 2014 season.
“I’m really pleased with our day,” said Gallagher. “The Alamo Rent A Car Chevrolet was strong throughout the entire race and we showed patience to work our way to the front in the beginning. The guys on my GMS Racing team are working extremely hard and I feel like we are on a roll with two consecutive top-five finishes. I’m definitely looking forward to the next ARCA Racing Series event at Toledo in a couple weeks.”
Gallagher started the ARCA Racing Series event from the 18th position after the inaugural superspeedway group qualifying procedure on Friday afternoon. With patience being the key in drafting, Gallagher worked both the bottom and top lines to see where the No. 23 Alamo Rent A Car Chevrolet preferred to be. By lap 11, the 24-year-old had driven his way into the top-15, as the second pack had caught the leaders.
With the first half of the 76-lap event being caution-free, the leaders were forced to make green flag pit stops beginning on lap 35. Gallagher worked his way into the third position before Crew Chief Ryan “Pickle” London called his driver to pit road on lap 40 for fuel only. After the field cycled through pit stops, the Alamo Rent A Car Impala was scored in the fourth position.
The only caution flag slowed the pace on lap 56, with Gallagher in fifth-place. London instructed Gallagher to stay out and keep his position on the track. On lap 64, the field restarted with 13 laps remaining and Gallagher continued to keep his left side tires on the yellow line. Despite the two-wide action over the final five laps, Gallagher crossed the finish line in the fifth position.
GMS PR
