In his only scheduled NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race of the season, Brett Moffitt delivered Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) an eighth place finish in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway.
Moffitt drove the No. 55 Aarons Toyota Camry to its first top-10 finish since Kansas Speedway last October. The former NASCAR K&N Pro Series East standout substituted for driver Brian Vickers who’ll return to the seat next weekend at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway following corrective heart surgery in December.
The Grimes, Iowa native earned his career-best finish in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition in his eighth career start. Previously, the nine-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series East winner earned a best finish of 22nd in his Cup debut at Dover (Del.) International Speedway last May.
Moffitt carved himself a seven race schedule in the No. 66 last season driving for Identity Ventures Racing and owner Jay Robinson. While the equipment proved to be sub-par, the experience he inhaled at Atlanta last September confirmed to be vital to his run at the storied speedway Sunday.
“It’s a little things, you know,” said Moffitt of his performance. “We can all go fast in a car by ourselves, but it’s racing around 42 other guys and keeping the car under control.
“Atlanta has a lot of tire fall off, so being able to run a majority of a run, 40 – 50 laps and still be good at the end paid off a lot. Our car had great speed and I can’t thank Aarons and Michael Waltrip Racing enough for this opportunity.”
Moffitt didn’t spend all 500 miles inside the top-10. Moffitt steadily worked his way from his 22nd starting position. At one point during the race, the Sprint Cup rookie fell out of the top 30, but as the track conditions continued to change, Moffit’s No. 55 Aarons Toyota Camry handling improved immensely.
With the car sparking to life, Moffit blossomed. And a little luck helped too.
Following his last pit stop, the caution waived sending the leaders to pit road and keeping him on the track. When the race restarted, Moffitt found himself in the hunt, restarting third. An immaculate save out of Turn 2 on the restart kept the young-gun from losing control of his race car and staying among the fight.
By the time the field exited Turn 3, they found themselves under the final caution of the day for a multi-car accident. Moffitt and his team again kept themselves out on the racetrack and able to fend off five hungry challengers in the closing laps to deliver the organization’s second consecutive top-10 run of 2015.
Even more important for Moffitt, his brilliant performance glistened in his sponsor’s backyard with Aaron’s, a long-time sponsor in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and MWR headquartered 40 minutes north of Atlanta Motor Speedway.
“I was tearing up out there; this is the biggest accomplishment I could have ever done,” Moffitt told NASCAR.com.
While the finish was commendable, noteworthy, stupendous or any other celebratory word you can come up, next weekend Vickers returns to the seat and the future for the 22-year old remains in doubt.
When will we see Moffitt again?
Sponsorship dollars continue to be hard to acquire. And while yes, some new sponsors have jumped on the NASCAR bandwagon there still isn’t enough to go around for everyone.
But one thing’s certain.
On a day where the sun couldn’t be seen, Moffitt shined through the clouds of his competitors and proved to all – why he remains under Michael Waltrip Racing’s development banner and now (hopefully) silences critics who doubted his potential.
And just maybe that could lead to something more than anything Moffitt’s ever imagined.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
