ELKHART LAKE, Wis. –- Stanton Barrett’s long day at Road America (Wisc.) Friday afternoon finally saw some relief near the end of the second NASCAR XFINITY Series practice session.
Prepping for his fourth XFINITY Series start of the season, Barrett, fielding his own car this weekend with the help of owner Rick Ware was unable to get on the 14-turn, 4.048-mile road course
during the first practice session ahead of Saturday afternoon’s Road America 180 Fired Up by Johnsonville (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
But, there were no issues with his No. 17 Ford Mustang, instead, a malfunctioning lift-gate motor left his car trapped atop the team’s hauler while the crew desperately searched for a solution.
“It’s one of those things, man. It’s a bummer,” Barrett told NASCAR.com. “We’ll get it going. We won’t be out on the track, so we just have to get the car through tech (inspection) now.
There’s a lot of work to do.”
The Hollywood stuntman recently turned director said the team spent approximately four hours wrestling with circuitry, switches and wiring hoping to override the system. When that failed, Barrett checked the checked the manufacturer’s label to discover that the company Dings Dynamics Group — was located in Milwaukee, 60 miles south of the track.
The company quickly came to the rescue to the team with the assistance of a local electrician.
“Thank God, it worked great,” Barrett said. “An electrician came out and helped us bypass all the systems, too. It was really nice that we found all the resources we needed.”
With the assistance of Derrike Cope Racing, Barrett did turn laps in the No. 70 Chevrolet during the final practice session at Road America timing in 30th quickest overall while the repair was ongoing.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
