DOVER, Del. – With what seemed like an incredibly strong No. 24 JACOB Companies Chevrolet Silverado, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Ben Kennedy lost his primary truck in the final minutes of final practice at Dover (Del.) International Speedway Thursday afternoon.
Kennedy, the Daytona Beach, Florida native crashed with three minutes remaining preparing for Friday’s JACOB Companies 200 forcing the team to pull out their backup truck with just qualifying remaining before the green flag in the 200-lap event.
A spokesperson for the team told CATCHENCE.com they did not immediately know the cause of the contact with the Turn 1 wall.
Despite the setback, Kennedy remains upbeat.
“I’m still looking forward to it,” said Kennedy Thursday night. “We had a really fast Jacob Companies Chevrolet today earlier in practice. It was unfortunate but I’m glad we did it in practice and not 20 to 30 laps into the race. We’ve got a great back up truck here. We’re going to convert a lot of stuff over from our primary to the backup.”
With the potential for inclement weather on Friday at Dover, it puts the team in a volatile position for Kennedy’s third start at “The Monster Mile.” Should rain force the cancelation of qualifying, the lineup would be set per the rule book, which means Kennedy would start based on his combined practice speeds Thursday afternoon.
Added Kennedy, “I talked to Joey (Cohen, crew chief) for awhile and we’re putting together our game plan – what happens in the next 24 hours if it rains, if it doesn’t rain? These trucks are a little different so we’re going to start off conservative especially to start off, having never been in this truck on this track before. I’m excited and I think we’ll have a good run.”
The 24-year-old’s prior two starts at the 1.0-mile oval have his GMS Racing team thinking positive though. With finishes of seventh and sixth in 2014 and 2015 respectively, Kennedy should have no issues adapting to his backup truck ahead of the fifth race of the season.
The 2014 University of Florida graduate is 13th in the championship standings.
Kennedy, the great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. enters Dover on the heels of a solid ninth-place finish last weekend at Kansas Speedway in his first race with Statesville, North Carolina-based GMS Racing after parting ways with Red Horse Racing in April.
“Following Kansas and the great finish I earned in my first race with GMS Racing, I’m really looking forward to Dover this weekend,” Kennedy said earlier this week. “There’s a big difference, not only in track size, but in the degree of difficulty you face getting around the track while maintaining speed. At any moment you can end up on the bad side of things so you have to be focused 100-percent of the time.”,
Backup or not, it’s a big race for Kennedy. JACOB Companies, a full-server general contractor that serves many states up and down the East Coast is sponsoring the two-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series East winner for the fourth time this season in a race they are also backing. Established in 2006, JACOB Companies is in the first of a multi-year partnership with Dover International Speedway and its sponsorship of the annual spring truck series event.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
