Dakoda Armstrong and his JGL Racing team entered the second race of the 2016 season with much anticipation as they would be working together for the first time on a 1.5-mile track. However at the end of the 250-mile event, Armstrong would steer his No. 28 Winfield Toyota to a disappointing 21st-place finish in the running of the Heads Up Georgia 250 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
“Today was disappointing for all of us on this No. 28 Winfield Toyota,” said Armstrong. “We just lacked overall grip that we needed to attack this track in order to be fast. I was loose getting into the corners so that prevented me from really getting down to the bottom and being aggressive. My JGL Racing crew worked hard throughout the race but we just were not able to get our car where we needed it to be.”
Dakoda would start the 163-lap event from the 20th position as a result of his qualifying efforts earlier in the day. Once the green flag flew, the No. 28 Winfield Toyota would fall back a few positions as handling issues quickly became apparent. The JGL Racing crew would utilize multiple trips down pit road throughout the event for much needed fresh Goodyear tires and several attempts at improving their handling. The late stages of the event would see Armstrong smartly navigate traffic to safely bring home his No. 28 Winfield Toyota with the 21st-place finish.
“While we didn’t have our No. 28 Winfield Toyota handling like we needed it to – we were able to make slight improvements on it throughout the race,” added Dakoda. “With this being the first intermediate track that Steven Lane (crew chief) and I were able to work together – I think it is a positive sign that we were headed in the right direction at the end of the day. We will use this as a learning experience for all of us and we get another shot at an intermediate track next week in Las Vegas.”
The 21st-place finish would drop Armstrong to the 13th position in the overall NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers’ standings – just three points out of the top ten.
Armstrong and his JGL Racing team next head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the running of the Boyd Gaming 300. The third race of the season will be Saturday March 5th and can be seen LIVE on FOX Sports1 at 4:00 pm ET. It can also be heard on Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius Channel 90.
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