Race 25 of 33: Indiana 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Track Details: 2.5-mile rectangular oval / 100 laps
No. 08: Gray Gaulding Result: 13th
Team 08 Panini/PURE Chevrolet Camaro:
With just two races remaining until the 2019 Playoffs, the NASCAR Xfinity Series made a stop in Indianapolis at one of the most famous race tracks in the world. After a 15th place result last weekend in Darlington, Gaulding and his No. 08 team were full of confidence coming into Indianapolis. The 08 team would roll off from the 16th position for the 250 mile race.
The race began and the 08 did not fire off to Gaulding’s liking. On lap 15 the first caution of the day waved after the 10 of Austin Dillion stalled on the access road. Crew Chief Patrick Donahue called Gaulding to the pits to tighten up the 08 Chevy. On lap 23 caution waved once again for the 52 of David Starr. After a four lap shootout to end the stage, Gaulding was in the 17th position.
Gaulding started the second stage from the 18th position; however, it did not take long for the fourth caution of the day to wave after the 86 of Brandon Brown went sliding into the outside wall. The remainder of the stage settled down and went caution free. After 60 laps, Gaulding was in the 18th position.
The final stage began with only 35 laps remaining in the race. Gaulding battled his way forward toward the top-fifteen. On lap 78 the 23 car of John Hunter Nemechek made hard contact with the wall. With 13 laps remaining Gaulding worked his way up to the 12th position before the 19 and 22 made contact, bringing out the seventh caution of the day. The eighth and final caution came out with eight laps remaining after the 20 of Christopher Bell and the 2 of Tyler Reddick made hard contact with the outside wall. Gaulding was able to steer clear of the late race carnage and keep his team in the game. After a brief red flag, only four laps remained in the race. Gaulding was knocking on the door of a top ten finish, but got pinned behind a slower car on the restart. After it was all said and done, Gaulding was able to battle his way to a 13th place finish at the Brickyard. The result marked the team’s fourteenth top 15 finish of the season.
Gray Gaulding:
“We had a really solid day and ended up coming home P13, which is a good day. I hate we didn’t get a top ten. We didn’t have the luck at the end to get the proper line on the bottom. Hats off to my guys at SS Green Light Racing and thank you to everybody at Panini and Pure. Looking forward to going to one of my favorite places at Vegas next week!”
Bobby Dotter Thoughts on the 08 Team:
“Another really solid effort by Gray and the 08 team. It’s been a lot of fun clicking off these top 15 finishes this year. I think if we were able to restart on the bottom, we may have been able to get a top ten, but nevertheless it was another fantastic result for this team. Looking forward to heading to Vegas to finish off the regular season!”