LONG POND, Pa. – Sweet redemption.
After seeing a likely top-five finish explode with an engine failure earlier this month at Kentucky Speedway, Brett Moffitt made the most of a second chance with Red Horse Racing Saturday at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.
The Grimes, Iowa native rallied from a late-race pit strategy to contend for his first career truck series victory in a caution-filled Pocono Mountains 150. While making moves on the final restart to vault into third, he ran out of laps to pass Cameron Hayley for second or deny race winner William Byron his fifth victory of the season.
“It feels really good to get back here running in the front,” said Moffitt. “We didn’t have quite enough for the 9 (William Byron) or the 13 (Cameron Hayley). They were really strong at the end. Scott Zipadelli (crew chief) and the guys worked their butts off on this truck. We weren’t all that good yesterday and to be sitting here third is really good for us and Toyota has given us a strong motor and strong truck. I can’t thank Tom (DeLoach, team owner) and everyone at Red Horse (Racing) enough.”
While a clouded future in racing awaits Moffitt, his performance on Saturday leaves a good vibe and a reassurance that he holds the talent, maturity and finesse to be a successful and race-winning type caliber driver.
Notified last Friday by Red Horse that Moffitt would again sub for the recovering Matt Tifft, Moffitt, the former Michael Waltrip Racing development driver struggled with the handling of his truck during practice Friday, but hard work from the team and crew chief Scott Zipadelli aggressive changes to their No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra played into their hands.
“Those restarts were interesting for sure,” said Moffitt. “You got a couple people who couldn’t quite figure out the ‘Tricky Triangle’ it looked like. So, a lot of it was being patiently aggressive. Our strategy had us in the back a lot for the majority of the race and we kind of had to work our way back up past older tires every time it would cycle through. We had to be careful, but all in all the guys at Red Horse (Racing) did a great job.
“Complete 180 from yesterday. We were struggling and I wasn’t sure our truck was going to be that good today. We didn’t make a single adjustment on it during the race so we really had a great truck. Scott (Zipadelli, crew chief) called a great race, great strategy and got us upfront when it mattered.”
In a sport that evolves around sponsorship dollars, Moffitt has sat idled on the sidelines for the first seven months of 2016, but Red Horse Racing Tom DeLoach owner took another gamble on the 23-year-old, a decision that hopefully will pay off in more ways than one.
“I’ve been kinda riding each opportunity I get,” added Moffitt. “Last year it was in the 55 (Cup) car when Brian (Vickers) was out and this year it’s in the 11 truck with Matt Tifft out. Not the way I want to get opportunities by someone’s else hard fortune, but it’s good to make the most of ’em and hopefully this opens the door for more races.”
While undergoing treatment after surgery to remove a brain tumor, Tifft’s timetable to return to the seat remains unknown. In the meantime, Moffitt put an exclamation point on why he should be a worthy candidate to hold the wheel until he returns.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
