Purdy Claims Pair of Runner-up Finishes at CARS Tour Duels at Dominion

Chase Purdy rode the momentum from his Rattler 250 weekend into the Commonwealth of Virginia on Saturday afternoon, qualifying second for both races in the CARS Tour Duels at Dominion and racing in the top three for both events. Ultimately, he finished second in both races, his best career super late model finish.

 

Purdy and the David Gilliland Racing team unloaded on Friday with a fast Toyota, consistently clicking off laps faster than most of the competition and in the low 14-second range. Chase’s feedback over Friday and Saturday’s practice was taken into account as the team adjusted the car to perform well in both qualifying and the twin 75-lap “duels.”

 

Both of Chase’s qualifying laps were used to set the field for each respective duel and he started each race alongside of the polesitter in position two, poised to win the drag race to the first turn each time. In the first race, Purdy’s car was solid, but not quite good enough to chase down the race leader despite a pair of late-race cautions which set up restarts where he was once again on the front row.

 

In the second duel, the story was much the same as the first. Another late-race caution set Chase up for a front row restart, but despite adjustments the crew made between races, Purdy had not saved enough tire to maintain position beside the veteran race leader (Brandon Setzer) for a chance to win. Chase once again ran second, approximately one second behind the race leader to double-up on his career best finish from the first duel.

 

“Overall, I think things went pretty well and I feel like we really came together as a team, working hard to figure out the car,” Purdy said after the race. “The biggest challenge of the weekend was keeping up with the No. 6 car, he was in a whole different league and taught me a lot about restarts. I learned about timing them and some things I need to do in order to get a good jump and a run on the guy beside or in front of me.”

 

The next event for Chase Purdy is the NASCAR K&N Pro Series event on April 8 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150. It will be Chase’s second career K&N Pro Series start at a track where he cut his teeth in late model racing at the beginning of 2016, earning the NASCAR State Championship and Rookie of the Year honors.

 

For more information on Chase Purdy, visit his website at ChasePurdyRacing.com and follow him on Facebook (@ChasePurdyRacing), Twitter (@ChasePurdy12) and Instagram (@chase_purdy).