Joey Coulter Fights Back From Penalty to Finish 13th at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
9/1/2014GMS Racing
Race Report
Joey Coulter Fights Back From Penalty to Finish 13th at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
In his second career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) start at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Joey Coulter and his GMS Racing team battled damage and a penalty before crossing the finish line in 13th position. Coulter had initially qualified on Row 8 in 15th place, but an incident during qualifying forced the GMS Racing team to start in the rear of the field for the Chevrolet Silverado 250. As the field took the green flag, Coulter started Sunday’s race from the 21st position, and within the opening laps of the 64-lap race, he had driven his way to the 18th-postion before a green-flag pit stop on Lap 9. Crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz elected to bring the 24-year-old in for fuel during a quick green-flag stop. As trucks continued to cycle through, Coulter was reminded to “save tires” while in 14th-place with 15 laps complete. Saving fuel during the long green-flag run, the Miami Springs, Fla. driver progressed through the ranks, working his way to 13th in the running order by Lap 30. Coulter then reported to his team that the No. 21 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet Silverado had a loose handling condition, so Stankiewicz called his driver down pit road on Lap 36, where the GMS Racing pit crew serviced the white and blue Silverado with four fresh tires and fuel. He sped exiting pit road and was ordered by NASCAR to serve a pass-through penalty the next time by, a penalty that dropped Coulter to 18th and a lap down to the leader. However, staying focused on the big picture, Coulter remained on course when the first caution flag waved on Lap 48, and he jumped into the top 15 as competitors made their way to pit road. Coulter was sitting in the “lucky dog” position when the caution came out and was rewarded the recipient. Under caution, Coulter went to pit road on Lap 50 for four tires and another splash of Sunoco fuel, and he restarted in 15th-place on Lap 52. When the field came back under yellow four laps later, Coulter had methodically raced his way to 13th-place, where he and his GMS Racing team battled until the end and crossed the finish line 13th-place.
Start - 15 Finish - 13 Laps Led - 0
Joey Coulter Quote:
“It was a tough weekend for our No. 21 Allegiant Travel team, but sometimes that’s what you get with racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Our GMS Racing team pushed through all of the issues that we had throughout the weekend, and we kept our string of top 15 finishes alive. I am looking forward to getting to Chicagoland Speedway to get this weekend behind us.”