Big Weekend for Sparks Energy at Home Track

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In: Xfinity Series News

The weekend started with a busy day of practice on Friday afternoon; first was NASCAR XFINITY Series. The first practice session went very well for Joey and Go Green Racing, ending the session with the 17th fastest lap time. The team was satisfied with the single car speed and how it sucked up, so they elected to keep the car in the garage for the duration of final practice and gear up for qualifying Saturday morning. Where Gase would ultimately qualifying the Sparks Energy / Alabama Organ Center Chevrolet in 18th. But after discovering a big gash in the side wall of the left rear tire after his qualifying run, Gase had to start in the back for an unapproved changed.

It was a beautiful day in Sweet Home Alabama at Talladega Superspeedway. The engines we’re fired, the green flag had dropped, and the Sparks Energy 300 was underway. It was a pretty clean race during stage one, the first caution coming with a few laps remaining ending the stage under caution. After starting the race in the back of the pack, Gase quickly found his way up through the field. Hovering around 20th place for most of the first stage, he navigated his way up to 18th when the green & white checkered waved concluding stage one. 

After coming down pit road between stages for tires, fuel, and a slight adjustment. Joey would restart right where he left off, 18th. It didn’t take long after stage two had begun to bring out the second caution. A big wreck down the back stretch collected the likes of Ryan Truex, Dylan Lupton, Chad Finchum, Ty Majeski, and Spencer Boyd. When they went back to green Gase was sitting in 12th. Inching his way through the lead back, Gase grabbed his first career stage points at the end of stage two finishing 9th. 

Once we got the final stage under way, a short time later the third caution came out for the 22 who spun right in front of Joey. Luckily he was able to navigate through without sustaining any damage. After the caution, we went back to green with 47 laps remaining in the Sparks Energy 300. Green flag stops had begun, and Gase would come down pit road for tires and fuel only with 38 laps remaining. Pit road speed is 55 MPH at Talladega, and NASCAR gives you a 5 MPH buffer from that speed. Unfortunately NASCAR Officials had clocked Gase traveling 0.11 MPH over the limit in section 13 on pit road. Forcing Joey to do a drive through penalty which ultimately cost Joey a lap at the end of the race.

After the penalty, Gase climbed his way up to 21st which is where he would end up finishing. “I hate this for our guys,” said Gase after the race. “They did an awesome job preparing our Sparks Energy / Alabama Organ Center #35 where we could have competed for a win. We even got ourselves some stage points at the end of stage two which I’ve never done before. I just can’t thank Sparks Energy and Alabama Organ Center enough for making this weekend possible.”

Go Green Racing PR

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