Moffitt Carries Momentum to New Hampshire
Grimes, Iowa (June 29, 2010)
After breaking through to score his first victory of the 2010 season in Martinsville, VA, Brett Moffitt, Joe Gibbs Racing development driver, headed to New Hampshire Motor Speedway with one thing on his mind - repeating his performance.
"We really wanted to have a repeat performance at NHMS, especially in front of all the Sprint Cup teams and fans," Moffitt said. "Loudon is our Daytona 500, and we really wanted this victory."
Heading into qualifying, Moffitt was uncertain that he could post a lap time in the top ten, when practice left him at a disappointing twenty-first, so Moffitt's fast qualifying time surprised even himself. The JGR #20 Game Plan for Life Toyota team made additional adjustments immediately before qualifying, and Moffitt recorded a qualifying time of 30.356 seconds (125.471 mph.) around the 1.058-mile oval to capture his first Coors Light Pole award of the 2010 season and the second of his NASCAR K&N Pro Series East career."To win the pole after struggling as we did during practice was awesome," Moffitt said. "This shows again how skilled and capable the # 20 JGR team is in making the necessary adjustments to the car in such a limited time."
After the green flag waved for the New England 125, Moffitt jumped out to an early lead and dominated the first half of the race. At one point, Moffitt's lead was up to more than two seconds over Ryan Truex, the eventual race winner; however, near the end of the long green flag run, Moffitt's car became very tight, causing him to slide back to third place. On the first round of pit stops, the #20 JGR crew decided to take right side tires and make the adjustments they anticipated would be needed for the end of the race. After the pit stop Moffitt was relegated to seventh position for the restart, with only 31 laps remaining.Moffitt then diced his way through heavy traffic. After a late-race, three-wide pass around two contenders, he ran out of time to battle for the lead, and the #20 crossed the finish line in fifth position at the checkered flag. Moffitt led 40 laps of the race, which featured only three lead changes among three drivers.
"Fifth was a very solid day for us," Moffitt said.Tags: brett moffitt , joe gibbs racing , martinsville , va , virginia , new hampshire motor speedway , loudon , pole , fifth , 5th
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