New to the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) stable, Sam Hornish Jr. joined the No. 54 Monster Energy Camry at Talladega (Al.) Superspeedway for the first of seven events in which he will pilot the black and green Toyota Camry. In his first rodeo with the Huntersville, NC-based operation, Hornish Jr. gained markers for the team with a fifth-place finish that allowed JGR to maintain their Owner’s Point Standings, now 36 ahead of the competition. It was Hornish Jr.’s first top-five finish in four starts at the Alabama superspeedway on which he also secured the sixth pole-starting position of his career, for Saturday’s race.
During initial on-track activity Thursday, the No. 54 Toyota team felt their Camry was strong and posted good lap times during two practice sessions, during which the driver and team, new to each other, worked on communication and getting to know each other behind the wheel and on track. The group bonded quickly and showed success early when on Friday the JGR team posted the fasted track qualifying time and gave Hornish Jr. the Coors Light Pole Award at 186.783 mph with a 51.268 second lap. It was Hornish Jr.’s sixth pole in 100 Nationwide Series races.
Upon taking the green flag, JGR watched all their NNS cars, including the No. 54 machine, maintain position in the top-five for several laps. Around lap 25 of the 117-lap event, Hornish Jr. radioed back to his crew, “Is this where you want us to be?” Crew chief Adam Stevens replied, “Yes sir, all good – keep riding!” When the first event caution displayed soon after, the Monster Energy team visited pit road to replenish four Goodyear tires, Sunoco fuel and make one track bar adjustment to tighten up the car’s handling. While other competitors took two tires during the interlude, and exited pit road more quickly, the No. 54 team returned to the race track in eighth-place.
Another caution-flag waved 20 laps later and Hornish Jr. reported the last adjustment had improved the car’s balance. The No. 54 machine showed slight damage in the rear, a result of the field ‘backing up’ to each other when a yellow flag came out, but it was determined this would not be an issue for the Monster Energy car. They visited pit road for right-side tires and fuel, then returned to the track in 11th-place.
Hornish Jr. improved his position to seventh-place at the event’s halfway point, however, it was discovered the Camry’s windshield bolts had sheared and fallen out so repair would need to be made. Another event caution offered the team that opportunity and Hornish Jr. brought his black and green machine to the front of pit road. In the pit stall, various crew members performed a standard pit stop for tires and fuel, alongside the windshield repair. The team took their time as the repair needed to be correct. Therefore the team took the green flag restart in the 17th position.
A few laps later Hornish Jr. reported to his team that he felt a slight vibration in the tires. Stevens acknowledged and replied, “Everyone is five laps short on fuel so we’ll stop one more time towards the end, to fix that.” A subsequent pit stop under yellow, only afforded the team enough time to replenish fuel. It was with the next event caution that the team was able to provide Hornish Jr. with the fresh tires he was looking for.
A lengthy pit stop put the No. 54 in 20th-place to restart once more and with less than 20 laps remaining in the event, tensions started to grow as teams knew the race was coming down to its final circuits. Everyone knew this was the time when most teams would show aggression for that valued position towards the front. “No help!,” the team spotter was heard over the radio, referring to whether other cars would help ‘push’ with Hornish Jr. for a lead position. One final accident at lap 108 gave the field what would be their last yellow-flag period. Most teams visited pit road again, to replenish fuel, in case of a green-white-checkered finish which historically happened on the 2.66-mile superspeedway, although not Saturday.
Hornish Jr. restarted one final time in seventh-place with three laps remaining in the race. He gained two spots to fifth-place before taking the checkered flag, while his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Elliott Sadler held off the field for the victory.
When interviewed post-race, the Nationwide Series veteran described his day, “It was a lot of ups and downs. We were pretty confident with the way everything was going on. I made a mistake coming out of the pits and just stalled the car a little bit and we lost a little and then we got shuffled back. Worked our way back up there and then we got to the point where I thought we were actually going to lead — we were the first car on the outside and for whatever reason the car just started pushing really bad. I don’t know, that’s the only time I’ve been in clean air all weekend so I don’t know if it had anything to do with that, but it’s really the opposite of what you would ever expect. The Monster Energy Toyota was really good and obviously I wish we could have done a little bit more, but happy for Elliott (Sadler) and all the guys at JGR. They got to go to victory lane, but at the same time I know that you can come here just as easily and be 25th, of no fault of your own. To get out of here with a top-five and this be our first race together, I’ll take it because it could have been a lot worse that’s for sure.”
When further asked if Hornish Jr. was happy with a fifth-place result in his first start with Joe Gibbs Racing, he replied, “I wanted it to be a little bit better, but this is the first I think of the restrictor plate races I’ve run at Talladega where I brought the car home as clean as I have. We were just trying to be patient today, take care of it. We had an issue where I think we just wore through a tire or were having a little problem, we had to pit and it put us in the back and we worked our way up. I was really just happy with the way that we were able to push ourselves up there. Man, I wanted more for all of these guys that work on the Monster Energy Toyota but I’m happy for Joe Gibbs Racing that they got one car in victory lane. This was the wild card for me for my schedule this year so I’m really glad that we got a top-five out of it and we’ll move on to Iowa.”
With its seventh consecutive top-five finish, the No. 54 Monster Energy team owned by J.D. Gibbs maintains first place in the Owner’s Point standings, now leading the field by 36 points over Rick Hendrick’s No. 5 entry.
Sadler led the field nine times for a race-high 40 laps during the Aaron’s 312, before capturing the checkered flag, his 10th career NASCAR Nationwide Series victory in 239 races. Chris Buescher, Regan Smith, David Ragan and Hornish Jr. completed the top-five finishers. There were seven caution periods for 29 laps of the race along with 27 lead changes across 13 drivers.
The NASCAR Nationwide Series takes a hiatus next week then returns again for competition on May 18at Iowa Speedway in Newton, with television broadcast starting at 1:30 p.m. EST on ESPN. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Sam Hornish Jr. will make his second start of seven scheduled races behind the wheel of the No. 54 Monster Energy Camry.
KBM PR
- Kaleb Johnson Starts Strong During High Limit Racing Event at Lakeside Speedway - May 6, 2024
- Bayley Currey’s No. 41 AutoVentive/Precision Vehicle Logistics Chevrolet to Honor Charles “Chuck” Efaw at Darlington Raceway - May 6, 2024
- Overstock.com Racing: Noah Gragson Darlington Advance - May 6, 2024