DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Surrounded by a somewhat controversial finish, Saturday’s postponed 16th annual Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway gifted several smaller NASCAR XFINITY Series teams with rewarding finishes.
Several late-race accidents and even waiving the checked and yellow flags together contributed to those teams’ good finishes – but that’s typical circumstances for restrictor plate racing.\
While William Byron went on to win his second consecutive race for JR Motorsports with teammate Elliott Sadler not far behind, third through fifth were sprinkled with career-bests.
For the second consecutive week, Dakoda Armstrong planted his No. 28 Winfield Toyota Camry inside the top-five with a third-place finish Saturday afternoon. Last week, his team benefited from a strategy move from his teammate Dylan Lupton to finish fifth. A week later, Armstrong is picking up the points he needs to propel his JGL Racing team into the playoffs.
“The race was pretty weird,” said Armstrong. “I think with all the rain it seemed like everyone was kind of calm for the most part. There really wasn’t a big wreck until the very end. I think everyone was willing to ride more – the first few races of the season there were wrecks right from the get-go. I think the rain played a part in that it was kind of like restarting the race from the very beginning every time so I think everyone was willing to ride and then it got a little wild there.
“I feel like everyone – that’s the best I’ve seen the field do as far as just being aggressive and moving and not tearing up stuff. It was kind of weird the way it played out, but for me we were ready to get it over with. We knew this one could hurt us or help us and I think we were on the good side of it.”
Behind Armstrong, came teammate Jeb Burton making a rare appearance in the No. 24 Estes Express Lines Toyota. For Burton who hasn’t raced in XFINITY since Bristol in April – the finish was a career-best in 18 series starts and his first top-10 since finishing 10th at Atlanta Motor Speedway last spring driving for Richard Petty Motorsports.
He’ll stay in the saddle for at least one more week driving the JGL Racing prepared car next weekend at Kentucky.
“We had a good car. It just – we were leaking oil and I had a bad vibration, but it never got any worse. There at the end, I was going to push Erik (Jones),” offered Burton. “I thought I had a shot to win the thing and he ran out of fuel, so that was a little disappointing, but it was a good run. State Water Heaters, Global Pump, Estes – got a top five. It’s been a tough – it’s been a tough career of mine, but we’re going to keep at it and keep working and hopefully be in victory lane soon.”
David Starr didn’t even practice his No. 99 SS Green Light Racing Chevrolet on Thursday at Daytona – instead, the Houston, Texas native boarded a flight for the Sunshine State after Korbin Forrister reportedly got sick and couldn’t compete.
Instead, Starr delivered. Earning a career-best fifth in Saturday’s race, it was the first top-five for the seasoned veteran in 112 races.
“For Bobby’s team – we obviously like B.J. McLeod’s team, we make a lot with a little,” said Starr who as at the airport traveling back to Texas. “We make the most of what we have to work with. When everyone comes to pit road – we have to come down for scuffs while everyone comes for stickers. We make it work though.
“It’s like a win for us. Nobody understands. With the budget, we have to work with against millions of dollars. Last week was awesome. This week, heck, man, I was mowing my grass when practice was going on and this was one of those situations that Korbin Forrister was bringing something to the table and then he got sick.
“The car wasn’t competitive – but we kept working on it and made it better. “When you finish in the top-five in the NASCAR XFINITY Series race – under the circumstances and the budgets we have to work with us. I feel like our SS Green Light Racing team has won the race. I felt like we should have turned into Victory Lane and celebrated.
Without discussing his team’s budget, Starr insisted that his team can turn pennies into dollars and Saturday’s finish was a perfect example of that.
“If some of these big teams had to operate on the budgets that we have to race, I’m not sure they would come to the race track,” Starr said. “People just don’t understand what we’ve accomplished. It’s a great thing. To finish inside the top-five, it was a great emotion. It was almost a miracle.”
“It’s just crazy for our team. It’s a momentum booster. It’s good for our sponsors. It’s a good financial boost too. It’s great for the guys too. Everything about finishing inside the top-10, top-five, it’s like we had our own victory lane.”
Like Armstrong, Ross Chastain embraced another strong run for his JD Motorsports with Gary Keller team.
The team had to fight for it though.
Initially penalized after the race for a restart violation, the team appealed their 26th place finish and nearly two hours after the race, NASCAR rescinded their decision and put Chastain sixth on the board and back-to-back top-10 finishes for the Alva, Fla. native.
“Proud of the JD Motorsports with Gary Keller boys,” said Chastain who earned seventh career top-10 run. “They brought fast cars as always to Daytona. We played the odds that most of the guys would take themselves out and that’s exactly what happened.
“We pushed hard at the end and showed what our G&K Services Chevrolet was capable of. I’m proud to take a sixth place back to Gaffney, South Carolina.”
Jimmy Means Racing’s Joey Gase will end his year at Daytona with back-to-back top-10 finishes after finishing 10th. In February, the Cedar Rapids, Ia. native avoided all the carnage to finish seventh.
Really happy with our eighth-place finish today, that makes two top-10s in a row for us at Daytona which is huge for our small team,” offered Gase who has earned all three of his career top-10 finishes on plate tracks.
“Of course, a part of me is still unsatisfied. Who knows what could have happened if the 20 didn’t run out of gas in front of us on that last restart but it also could have been a blessing. It’s unbelievable how far we have come from a start and park team in 2012 to racing full time now and 20th in driver points.”
For the second consecutive race, B.J. McLeod Motorsports’ No. 78 team finished 11th. Last Saturday night, Tommy Joe Martins rallied the Chevrolet to his career-best run and on Saturday, McLeod saved his best run for last guiding his Toyota to 11th – bettering his 17th career-best run the week before at Iowa.
“This was great for our team,” said McLeod. “Our guys continue to work hard and never give up. It’s a brutal stretch right now for the XFINITY Series teams and for our team to keep delivering these finishes is impressive. I’m thrilled and can’t wait for Kentucky.”
While drivers like Joey Logano, Brennan Poole, Ty Dillon and Blake Koch all saw their opportunities to win Saturday’s XFINITY Series race go by the wayside – the spirited and gutted finishes of teams like SS Green Racing, JD Motorsports with Gary Keller, Jimmy Means Racing and B.J. McLeod Motorsports is a good dose of reality – that hard work and a little bit of luck can still pay off in the end.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
