Dickies driver Chad Chaffin maneuvered his newly camouflaged No. 18 Dodge around 10 wrecks and finished ninth in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway. For the seventh time in only 10 races this year, the fifth time in a row, Chaffin finished the race in the top 10.
Qualifying and practice was canceled on Friday due to rain. NASCAR allowed teams to have only 30 minutes of practice on Saturday before the race. The starting lineup was set according to point, and Chaffin was set to start sixth.
He complained on lap 15 that he was extremely loose. “Any time I tap the brake it is touchy,” Chaffin said. “I can’t turn the steering wheel at times.” The team pitted under the third caution on lap 30. Chaffin told his Crew Chief Kip McCord not to be bashful on the change. McCord asked the Dickies Racing Team to make eight rounds of adjustment to the track bar trying to make a big difference for Chaffin.
The driver restarted in the 15th position on lap 32. Only two laps later the fourth caution of the day came out. The truck was still too much for Chaffin to handle on the 1.5-mile oval. McCord called Chaffin in once again on lap 36 to add three rounds of bite in each side of his Dodge.
“I’m still loose around other trucks,” Chaffin said on lap 59 racing in the 18th position. “The truck is pushing now. When I’m by myself the truck gets tight, but the minute I go to pass someone it gets so loose I can’t hang on.” Chaffin pitted again on lap 81 and lap 104 under cautions. The Dickies Racing Team made more adjustments to the camouflaged Dodge trying to help.
In the final laps Chaffin battled side by side with Mike Skinner finally conquering the ninth position. The top-10 finish allowed the Dickies driver to gain points on leader Dennis Setzer; he trails by only 197 points.
“That truck was ill,” Chaffin said. “It was ill in practice today. I almost wrecked twice in only 30 minutes. In the race we just kept tightening it up because it was so loose. It was chassis tight. Every time I got around somebody it wanted to spin out. So when we got it to where it was not tight by itself, I couldn’t pass anyone or I would wreck.
“It was a top 10 finish, that is seven top 10’s in 10 races this year,” Chaffin said. “We had to really work hard for this. That is probably the hardest I’ve had to drive this year. We had to really use our strategy, tires and stay out of a lot of wrecks to get this. Even when our truck is bad, we figure out a way to bring it home ninth. In the end all that matters is the result and that is what keeps you in the points chase. So I’m real happy with the team.”
Carl Edwards won the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250. Bobby Hamilton, Rick Crawford, Steve Park and Matt Crafton followed in the top five.
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