BHR Driver Chase Montgomery fought a tight No. 18 TracRac Dodge all day at Kansas Speedway. Montgomery was able to overcome the tight condition in the final laps of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 350 to finish in the 20th position. It was the team’s fifth top-20 finish of the season.  

Montgomery qualified his No. 18 TracRac Dodge in the 30th position and consistently ran there in the opening laps. “The front end will not stick and it is causing me to go up the track,” Montgomery radioed.  He was able to adjust his driving style to fix the tight condition allowing him to gain ground on the competitors in front of him until the first scheduled pit stop.  

Montgomery was driving hard to stay ahead of the leader to prevent himself from going one lap down when the first caution came out. Crew Chief Kip McCord called Montgomery to pit road.  Montgomery pitted for four fresh tires, fuel and the crew made a major air pressure adjustment. He stalled the No. 18 TracRac Dodge as he was exiting pit road giving up several positions. He restarted in the 30th position.

The second caution came out on lap 51. “I am really tight running the high line and very loose when I am underneath another truck,” Montgomery said. “I may be overdriving the truck through traffic. Whatever the problem is, it is holding us back.” The team made the decision to bring Montgomery into the pits for fuel only because they had nothing to lose running in the 28th position. Once again Montgomery stalled the truck on pit road; the No. 18 crew was quick to jump over the pit wall and pushed Montgomery until the truck restarted.

While running in the 29th position the third caution waved. “I am still tight in the center,” Montgomery said. He drove the No. 18 TracRac Dodge into the pits for fuel and fresh tires. The crew made a track bar adjustment to aid the tight condition. He restarted in the 30th position.
 
Montgomery worked his way up to the 25th position, but was unable to keep the leader behind him causing the No. 18 Dodge to go one lap down. Under the fourth caution Montgomery brought the No. 18 TracRac Dodge in for fuel and fresh tires for the final time.  The team made another air pressure adjustment to try to fix his tight condition.  Montgomery restarted in the 22nd position. Following the restart he fell to the 25th position and stayed there during the next two cautions. 

In the closing laps of the race Montgomery was able to work his way through traffic. The final caution waved with two laps to go setting the stage for a green-white-checkered flag finish. On the last lap Montgomery passed two trucks in the final corner to finish in the 20th position. 

“Today was a productive day for the TracRac Dodge,” Montgomery said.  “The truck was tight in the opening laps and didn’t really get any better as the race went on. It forced me to adjust how I drove the track and I needed to learn how to do that. My guys gave me great pit stops and stayed with me all night. At the end of the day it was a good finish for us because we did not wreck and I learned a lot on the track. We will go home and get ready for Kentucky.”

Todd Bodine won the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250.  Todd Kluever, David Reutimann, Mike Skinner and Bill Lester followed in the top five.