NASCAR Driver Finished 19th During ALSCO 300 at Kentucky Speedway
SPARTA, Ky. (July 9, 2016) – The freshly repaved Kentucky Speedway had its challenges, but NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) driver Ray Black Jr. persevered on Friday night to capture his third Top-20 and second-best NXS finish of the 2016 season. The driver of the No. 07 ScubaLife.com Chevrolet Camaro finished 19th during the ALSCO 300 after overcoming pit road challenges and a late-race spin.
Black and his SS Green Light Racing team had a lot of unknowns coming into the newly repaved 1.5-mile track, but were successfully able to improve the handling of their Camaro throughout the four practice sessions on Thursday. Black went on to qualify 29th for Friday’s race.
After the drop of the green flag, Black immediately began making his way up through the field and was in the 24th position when a caution for debris came out. His trip down pit road for four tires, fuel and adjustments was a tough one, as the No. 22 came peeling out of his stall right in front of Black, who was forced to slam on the brakes and overshoot his pit stall in order to avoid getting in an accident.
Black restarted 27th but once again immediately began working his way up through the field with daring four-wide moves before settling in around the 18th position.
With just 25 laps to go, Black moved up high on the track to pass a competitor when he lost the handling of his Chevrolet and spun out on the track. In order to avoid hitting another car, Black kept his car high on the track and scraped the right rear side of his car on the exit of Turn 4. Luckily, the car mostly received only cosmetic damage and Black was able to hold on to his 19th place position for the remainder of the race.
“A Top-20 out of Kentucky Speedway – we’ll take it!” said Black after the race. “After the challenges of the last couple of races, it feels great to have a solid finish like this one. Kentucky Speedway did a great job with the repave. I had a lot of fun out there and found more grip than I expected to. I’m really proud of how hard everyone worked this week and look forward to going after another Top-20 next weekend.”
Black and his SS Green Light Racing team will now take on the “Magic Mile” of New Hampshire Motor Speedway next Saturday, July 16.
Fans can keep up with Ray Black Jr. by following him and his sponsor, ScubaLife, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @RayBlackJr and @TeamScubaRacing.
