Ryan Reed earned a 16th-place finish in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) after a late-race caution caught the team on pit road in the middle of their final green-flag stop.
Reed fought tight conditions for most of the race and was gaining ground after the team made adjustments to the No. 16 Lilly Diabetes/American Diabetes Association Ford Mustang. During the team’s final green-flag pit stop on lap-133, the caution came out, putting the team a lap down and preventing Reed from gaining any additional ground in the 163-lap Hisense 250.
“That wasn’t a reflection of what we had there,” said Reed. “We didn’t finish where we wanted to, but if that caution wouldn’t have come out for that last pit stop, then we would have been fine. We were up there around top-10, which would have been a lot more indicative of how we ran today. We ran 13th for a lot of the race and I felt like 13th to 10th is about the car we had and we need to keep building on that. We’re still figuring out the ins and outs of this new platform that we’ve got, but I think we’re headed in the right direction.
Reed started the 251-mile event from the 19th spot, but quickly gained three positions and ran around 16th for most of the race. He complained of tight conditions early so the team took one round of wedge out of the left rear on the lap-47 green-flag pit stop. Reed continued to complain of tight conditions so the team pitted again during the lap-85 debris caution for tires, fuel, a track bar adjustment and took a spring rubber out of the left rear.
When it was time for the last pit stop of the day, Reed suggested to crew chief Seth Barbour that they continue with the same adjustments that they had made on the last stop because the car’s handling had improved significantly. The team was halfway through their pit stop when the caution flew for debris, trapping Reed on pit road and causing him to lose a lap.
Reed was able to take a wave-around and restarted in the 15th position with 12 laps to go. Despite having the adjustments he needed to move through the field, there were not enough laps for Reed to do so.
Reed ran as high as the 13th position in Saturday’s race and improved his finishing position by two over his first appearance at the track in 2014.
Reed leaves Atlanta third in the NASCAR XFINITY Series points standings, eight behind teammate Chris Buescher and Ty Dillon, who both have 83 points.
Reed and the NXS return to action next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
RFR PR
