SPEEDWAY, Ind. — For Ryan Reed, Indianapolis Motor Speedway might as well be his Daytona 500.
While the Roush Fenway Racing veteran driver earned his second-career victory in the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway in February, his sponsor Lilly Diabetes serves as the title sponsor for the 100-lap XFINITY race around the 2.5-mile speedway of IMS.
Based in downtown Indianapolis, Lilly Diabetes brings a plethora of support for Reed to the race track.
Finishing sixth and earning his fifth top-10 finish of the year, the Bakersfield, Calif. native is on record for a career-best year in his fourth year of full-time competition, but more importantly gave Lilly Diabetes his first top-10 finish in their hometown.
“That’s not bad,” said Reed. “A sixth-place finish at a track that hasn’t been good to us in the past. It’s really cool to get Lilly Diabetes a strong run at the Lilly Diabetes 250. It’s always nice when you can put on a good show for your sponsor.
“They’ve done so much and Indianapolis is so important to them and their heritage that it’s just a really cool day. I got to work with Cole a lot, pushing each other, and got some Ford united power there.”
Reed was one of a few XFINITY Series teams who participated in the private test at Indy with the series’ new aerodynamic package which earned praises from the fans, but the 23-year-old says that NASCAR doesn’t need to rush quickly into a decision for next year’s rules package.
“I don’t know,” said Reed about keeping Saturday’s package intact. “I think everybody needs to sit down and ultimately, it’s up to the fans. If everyone is realistic with themselves, they all need to realize that we’re here because the fans let us be here due to their support.
“We need to see if they enjoyed it and if so, then we should probably consider going more in this direction.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
