Showcasing the most speed they’ve had this season on an intermediate track, Young’s Motorsports and principal driver Tyler Young (@TylerYoung02) are encouraged about their mile-and-a-half program, despite a 17th place finish in Friday night’s JAG Metals 350.
The Young’s Motorsports team led by crew chief Chad Kendrick brought a brand-new No. 20 CNR Electric Chevrolet to Texas Motor Speedway and despite shaking off the new truck gremlins, they knew their Chevrolet Silverado had speed.
From practice to qualifying, Kendrick and Young worked on the balance of their automobile allowing the Midland, Texas native to deliver a solid 13th place qualifying effort, a career-best at the 1.5-mile track.
With a ton of support at his hometown race, Young fired off strong – maintain a strong presence inside the top-15, however, as Stage 1 pressed on, Young began throttling back as the truck was tight, but as the laps ticked away under green – it got better sending him back forward and 13th overall to conclude Stage 1.
Restarting seventh after pitting right before the end of Stage 1, Young maintained his spot inside the top-10 for several laps before sliding back on older tires.
At the next caution, the Texan was pleased with his truck and came to pit road for tires, an adjustment on the track bar and fuel.
Hovered in 17th for the restart, Young slipped two positions for the end of Stage 2 complaining that his truck went the opposite direction and now battled a loose condition.
Using strategy to their advantage, the team elected to stay out during the round of pit stops launching him to seventh for the start of Stage 3.
Despite a loose truck, Young fired off competitive lap times and balanced himself inside the top-15 until he had to make his final pit stop under green flag conditions.
Young, however, sped on pit road during routine service and would have to serve a pass-thru penalty which hindered the team’s ability to deliver a top-10 finish in the penultimate intermediate race of the season.
Dropping to as low as 21st, Young muscled his way to 17th when the checkered flag, recording his fifth top-20 finish of 2017 in eight NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) starts.
“I’m real sorry I messed up the night for our Young’s Motorsports team,” said Young. “The truck was really the best there probably at the end and that pit road penalty hurt our chances at a good finish.
“This truck was real good and we showed we had speed. Chad and the boys will tweak on it a little bit and we’ll get her ready for Homestead in a couple weeks.”
Even with the finish, Young is upbeat about what his family-owned team can deliver in the season-finale at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway on Nov. 17.
“We’ve got a lot of good things going on right now at Young’s Motorsports and a good finish at Homestead will lift us off into the off-season with that much more momentum and drive,” he said.
“I can’t thank my guys enough for their hard work and determination. We’ll get it.”
For the penultimate race of the season, Young’s Motorsports will shift back to a one-truck effort with NASCAR K&N Pro Series East winner Austin Hill behind the wheel of the No. 02 United Rentals Ford for the Nov. 10 running of the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway.
In 78 career NCWTS starts, Young holds five top-10 finishes to his credit with a career-best sixth at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February 2016. A sixth-place qualifying effort at Eldora Speedway in July 2015 is his best time trials effort to date. Young’s Motorsports has competed on the tour since 2012.
For more on Tyler Young, please visit YoungsMotorsports.com or click on his Facebook page. Young is also active on Twitter. You can follow and tweet with him @TylerYoung02.
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