RACE REPORT: Nashville – Jeffrey Earnhardt / No. 26 ForeverLawn Toyota GR Supra

KEY NOTES
 
  • Jeffrey Earnhardt made his track debut at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday in the No. 26 ForeverLawn Toyota GR Supra, bringing home a 7th-place finish in the Tennessee Lottery 250.
 
  • Earnhardt qualified 11th out of 38 cars, tying Sam Hunt Racing’s third-highest qualifying effort to date.
  • Nemechek qualified 11th at Phoenix earlier this year.
 
  • Out of 60 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, Earnhardt’s 7th-place finish is the Sam Hunt Racing’s fifth Top-10 in team history.
 
  • The No. 26 ForeverLawn Toyota GR Supra battled loose handling conditions getting into Turn 3 for the majority of the event, while also working against tight conditions from center to exit.
 
  • Earnhardt went for a spin after getting loose under the No. 2 of Sheldon Creed during the final stage, but had no damage to the No. 26 ForeverLawn machine. 
  • Earnhardt restarted 20th after that caution and improved 13 positions in 66 laps.
 
  • In the final laps of the race, Earnhardt was one of the top-five cars on speed. 
 
 
RACE RECAP
 
Stage One Recap
  • Earnhardt started 11th in the Tennessee Lottery 250 on Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway, starting on the inside.
  • The first stage went caution-free. 
  • Earnhardt reported that the No. 26 ForeverLawn Toyota GR Supra was handling free in Turn 3 from the drop of the green flag, but as the run continued, the car began to get tight from center to exit.
  • Earnhardt completed Stage One in the 15th position.
  • During the stage break, Earnhardt pitted for four tires, fuel, and track bar and wedge adjustments.
Stage Two Recap
  • Earnhardt restarted Stage Two in the 10th position after gaining five positions on pit road.
  • Stage Two also went caution-free.
  • The tight handling conditions continued during this stage.
  • Ending the stage in the 12th position, Earnhardt brought the ForeverLawn machine down pit road for four more fresh tires, fuel, and another track bar adjustment.
Final Stage Recap
  • Earnhardt restarted 13th for the final stage. 
  • On Lap 104, the caution flew for an incident ahead of Earnhardt.
  • Earnhardt restarted 11th once the green flag waved on Lap 109.
  • On lap 116, Earnhardt got loose under the No. 2 and spun with no damage.
  • Earnhardt was able to maintain the lead lap, but was forced to pit for four tires. Additional handling adjustments were made during this stop.
  • Earnhardt restarted 20th with 66 laps remaining, and he rallied back to a 7th-place finishing position.
 
 
 
QUOTES
 
 
Image by Daylon Barr Photography
 
Tell us about your weekend from start to finish.
 
“Solid weekend for our Sam Hunt Racing #26 Toyota GR Supra. We ran pretty decent in practice…made a lot of changes that we felt were in the right direction. I felt like we made some speed and that we made the right changes that we needed to to be good for the race and qualifying. I felt good about everything. We made a couple of more adjustments, went out for qualifying and was a little bit free, but we still put together a decent qualifying run. We started 11th in the race. We kept adjusting on it all day long and got a little too far out of the box, but Allen [Hart] and all of the guys dialed it back in and got it pretty solid right there. I think we just needed a little more speed to be a race-winning car. I’m really happy for all the guys at Sam Hunt Racing who put together a solid weekend like this. It was really great to have all of the ForeverLawn people come out — they had 70-something people here. It’s awesome to see their support for this program and what we’re doing on the racing side of things. All in all, a good weekend. We’ll take the momentum from this, build on it and go get them in Atlanta.”
 
 
Jeffrey Earnhardt, Driver of the No. 26 ForeverLawn Toyota GR Supra
 
SHR PR