Blake Koch Leads 15 Laps En Route to Top-15 Finish at Dover

Arriving at Dover International Speedway looking to have a solid weekend, Blake Koch kicked it off with two NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) practice sessions Friday, where he was ninth and 12th-fastest.

Moving on to qualifying Saturday morning, Koch was in a transfer position and looking to move on to the next round of qualifying, but rain cut it short leaving Koch with a 20th-place starting position for the Drive Sober 200. However, the rain never let up for the rest of the day, forcing the NXS race to be postponed to Sunday.

 

Finally able to take the green flag for the 200-lap event the next morning, Koch took the initial laps trying to assess his No. 11 LeafFilter Chevrolet Camaro’s handling since conditions had changed overnight. Fighting “loose in, tight off,” Koch held his ground in the top-20 until the competition caution on lap 40. At that point, crew chief Chris Rice called for four tires, fuel, air pressure and a track bar adjustment to try loosen Koch’s Camaro up.

 

Restarting 17th, Koch continued to battle a “tight” handling LeafFilter Gutter Protection™ Chevrolet, but maintained his track position until the caution flag was displayed again, this time on lap 62.

 

Coming down pit road for four tires, fuel and another round of adjustments, Koch restarted 19th when the Drive Sober 200 went back green on lap 69.

 

As a long green-flag run ensued, Koch began working his way through traffic, running lap times comparable to the top-five cars. As the run continued, green-flag pit stops began, and ultimately led to Koch taking the top spot, earning himself an all-important bonus point for the NXS Chase.

 

Maintaining the lead for 14 laps, the caution came out on lap 139, allowing Koch to make his pit stop under yellow. However, after lengthy clean up kept pit road closed, Koch radioed in that he was out of fuel, and was forced to hit pit road while it was still closed. While the pit crew serviced his car, Koch tried to get his No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection™ Chevrolet Camaro fired back up, but unfortunately could not get going again before losing a lap to the leaders.

 

Mired at the tail end of the field for the restart, a penalty for pitting before pit road was open under the last caution, Koch began methodically working his way through the field trying to make up as much ground as possible in the remaining 50 laps.

 

Knowing that every position gained was a much-needed point for the Chase, Koch battled back to a 14th-place finish in the Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway.  

 

Quote:
“Today felt great. The car was really good. We’ve really worked on getting the car driving better every week, and that’s what paid off in the race. We ran out of gas, which kind of hurt our day for a good finish, but I had an absolute blast.”

Kaulig Racing PR