lake and the Daystar.com No. 81 team have been looking for a top-15 finish all season thus far. Road America turned out to be the place as Blake adapted quickly to the 4.048 mile winding road course. Blake stayed out of trouble and showed speed, patience, and perseverance to reach his goal and finish in 14th position. It was Blake’s first career top-15 finish and the best result of the season thus far for the MacDonald Motorsports team.
The 14-turn course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin is a tough one for most newcomers to learn but Blake picked it up almost immediately. After turning only 9 laps in both practices, Blake was 21st on the speed charts with a lap of 105.451 MPH. Blake nearly matched that lap in qualifying but would start 24th in the Bucyrus 200 later on in the day.
The race proved to be a wild one as it always is when NASCAR hits the road courses. Blake drove a very smart race making minimal mistakes over the 200 miles. The Daystar.com No. 81 Dodge ran as high as 12th on lap 20 and Blake brought the car across the finish line in 14th position. It was a strong final segment again for Blake as he advanced 6 positions in the last 17 laps.
“I’m so pumped about the race! I’ve been looking for a top-15 all year and we did it,” said Blake after the race. “Everyone on the Daystar.com team did a great job all weekend and I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Blake’s ability to advance his position late in the race gave him his first career top-15 finish and the team’s best finish of the year. This was Blake’s 4th career top-20 finish and the third this season. The strong run advanced Blake two positions in the driver standings to 21st and moved the MacDonald Motorsports No. 81 up to 27th in the owner’s points.
MacDonald Motorsports PR
