The matte black Monster Energy Camry and 26-year-old Drew Herring, a familiar face in the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) portfolio of developmental drivers, tackled Kentucky Speedway together and brought home a sixth-place finish. Herring, a JGR shop employee who strives to become a regular driver on the NASCAR circuit, completed driving duties at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta while regular team driver Kyle Busch prepared for competition at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. After rain cut practice short the first day, Herring and team recorded a solid seventh-place qualifying run, raced hard at the drop of the green flag and drove as high as third place, to then accomplish a sixth-place finish in week 27 of the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
From a seventh-place starting spot, the young Benson, N.C. native took the green flag and immediately gained one position to sixth place, then continued to advance. Once the first event caution appeared at lap 25 of the 200-lap event, Herring and his No. 54 team took advantage of the yellow-flag and visited pit road from fourth place. With a trackbar change, four fresh Goodyear tires and Sunoco fuel replenished, the black machine and No. 54 team were ready to continue their advance towards the front of the field.
A green flag restart on lap 30 and Herring drove to third place, within one lap, what would ultimately be his highest running position of the race. Another yellow-flag caution period at lap 36 and the team chose to remain on the race track. The only comments heard on the radio were that of crew chief Adam Stevens to his rookie driver “save fuel.” Green on lap 41 and the Monster Energy machine maintained its third-place spot. Herring reported to the team that the black machine was “better” then, “a little tight behind the others, but good.” Shortly afterwards the car’s handling started to fade, however, and Herring slipped back to sixth place. “We’ll get it fixed up,” Stevens was heard over the radio, assuring his young driver there was plenty of time left in the race to make further adjustments.
Another pit road visit, under an event caution, and the No. 54 team took on Sunoco fuel only, saving tires for later in the race. A subsequent restart on lap 68 and the 10-time winning crew saw themselves in fourth place as the event neared its halfway point. Herring reported with concern, “I’m wicked loose on entry, especially in traffic.” Under another event caution, the team visited pit road and made further trackbar adjustments, with new tires placed and fuel replenished.
One long green-flag run ensued and while Herring was stronger than his competitors during long runs, he reported the car to still be loose on entry into the turns in traffic and tight on exit off the turns when the No. 54 was alone. A caution flag at lap 166 and the No. 54 team had one more opportunity to make car adjustments. This time Stevens called his young driver down pit road and instructed the team to change all four tires, while other competitors conducted two-tire stops. The move placed the JGR team in sixth-place but with more fresh Goodyears under their chassis, they hoped to ultimately earn better track position.
“It’s GO time bud,” Stevens was heard over the radio to Herring, sixth at the green-flag restart, then quickly recorded in the fourth position as he drove with purpose. “Great work here dude, just keep your tires clean,” Stevens relayed again to the hopeful rookie. Herring would drive up to the third position, once more, on lap 177. With the closing laps of the race in sight, the team was looking towards a top-three finish.
The result would end differently, though, when two more event cautions would occur, bunching up the field and causing traffic for the Monster Energy driver. A battle with JGR teammate Brian Vickers in the No. 20 and subsequent position challenges by desperate competitors, proved challenging for Herring, who fought hard and ended with a sixth-place spot.
A disappointed Herring commented post-race, “I just want to thank everyone on this Monster Energy team, Adam Stevens and the No. 11 Cup guys for coming and helping us out. It was just a frustrating finish, we fought all day, we weren’t quite where we wanted to be, but Adam kept making great adjustments all night and we kept getting better. It’s the same program we do every week, with the limited track time I get, I don’t want to step over my limit and so we just ride it out, save the finish, save the car. There at the end we made a charge from sixth to fourth and we were right were we needed to be. But the cautions didn’t fall our way, we were too free on restarts getting into the corner and it took four or five laps for us to get better…just frustrating. Tonight was definitely different from the last time I ran Kentucky Speedway. Running at night tends to free up the car more so we really had trouble getting into the corner. All in all I just want to thank everyone again. It’s just frustrating to end the year like this.”
The No. 54 Monster Energy team owned by J.D. Gibbs remains in second place in the Owner’s Point standings, now trailing the race-winning No. 22 Roger Penske Ford by 23 markers.
Ryan Blaney won the event, his first NASCAR Nationwide Series win in 15 starts. The No. 22 Ford was followed by Austin Dillon, Matt Crafton, Sam Hornish Jr. and Alex Bowman. There were nine caution periods for 44 laps of the race along with six lead changes across six drivers.
The NASCAR Nationwide Series competes again on September 28th at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, with television broadcast starting at 3:30pm ET on ESPN2. Kyle Busch will make his 21st start behind the wheel of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Monster Energy Camry.
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