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Three in a Row – Just Short of Reality
GRIMES, IA (April 20, 2011) – Brett Moffitt, driver of the No. 00 Michael
Waltrip Racing Toyota, showed his team’s strength this past weekend at the
second stop on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East schedule in South Boston, VA.
After leading 67 consecutive laps and stretching his lead to three seconds
over second place, with only a few laps remaining, Moffitt was involved in a
wreck when two lapped cars tangled directly in front of him. Moffitt’s hard
impact was enough to end the race early for the Iowa native, resulting in a
24th place finish.
The 18-year-old driver showed his speed all weekend. After winning the
season opener in dominating fashion, the team did not disappoint. In the
first and only practice session of the weekend, Moffitt’s car sustained some
minor front-end damage when a car in front of him slowed on the racetrack.
Despite the damage, and never making a qualifying attempt, Moffitt was
second quickest in practice.
The crew worked feverishly to make repairs before qualifying, and Moffitt
was able to back up his speed. After getting “wicked” loose coming out of
turn four to finish his qualifying lap, his speed was still good enough for
second quickest; however, Moffitt knew the strength was going to be in the
race.
Once the green flag dropped, Moffitt’s main goal was to save his tires
during the early portion of the race and keep the car clean. The plan worked
well. After dicing his way through heavy lap traffic, Moffitt was able to
get a nose inside the leader to earn the lead on lap 74 and never looked
back.
Once he had the lead, it wasn’t long before he stretched it to three seconds
over his closest competitor. On lap 91, Moffitt nearly avoided a spin from a
lapped car directly in front of him. After getting the jump on the final
restart, Moffitt looked to be heading to Victory Lane for his third
consecutive win; however, it was not to be.
With only nine laps to go, two lapped cars wrecked directly in front of
Moffitt. With nowhere to go, Moffitt slammed into the lapped car head on.
The car received major front-end damage and was out of the race. Because he
did not finish the race, Moffitt’s near-win resulted in a devastating 24th
place finish.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Moffitt said. “The lapped cars were so
difficult to pass today. It’s so disappointing for the guys to work so hard
building these awesome cars, just to see it get taken away at the end like
that. The positive thing is that we showed people the Greenville win was not
a fluke. We will just keep our chin up knowing we led a lot of laps and had
the winning car.”
After leading the Championship standings heading into the race, Moffitt now
finds himself in sixth place, 45 points behind the leader. “To lose the lead
is disappointing, but I know this team can rebound, and we can quickly
regain the ground we lost,” Moffitt said.
The series stops next at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, VA, on
April 28 in conjunction with the NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup series for
a triple-header weekend. The series is new to RIR, and Moffitt looks forward
to competing at the Virginia short track.
“I am so excited to go to Richmond,” Moffitt said. “When the schedule was
first released over the winter, I was pumped to get to go there. Especially
with the other major NASCAR divisions there, it will really be a chance for
us to receive more exposure, and, hopefully, to turn some more heads.”
For additional information, and to follow Moffitt’s racing career, log on
at: www.brettmoffittracing.com
, and for information about Michael Waltrip Racing, log on to
www.michaelwaltripracing.com
. To stay up to date with all of Moffitt’s news, both on and off the track,
follow him on Facebook at Brett Moffitt Racing.
For information on sponsorship opportunities with Brett Moffitt Racing,
contact Michele Scaglione at: 515.419.8357, and Dick Moffitt at:
515.202.2310 or
rmoffitt@destinyhomesusa.com .
Brett Moffitt, No. 00 Michael Waltrip Toyota Quick Hits:
- Moffitt started second and finished 24th.
- Moffitt led the field for 67 of the 150 laps.
- Led by three seconds before he was involved in the crash on lap 140.
- Qualified second despite minor front-end damage in a practice incident.
- Sought his third consecutive East Series victory (Dover, 2010,
Greenville-Pickens, 2011).
- The race is scheduled to air on SPEED, Thursday, May 12th, at 6 PM EST.
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