In the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, things didn’t go as planned for Mike Bliss and the Open Joist crew. After struggling with a very tight race truck during the opening laps of the Ford 200, Bliss was ready to pit for service on lap 55 when he was caught speeding entering the pit road. After receiving a one lap penalty from NASCAR for the infraction Bliss returned to the track in 36th position, two laps down. Even though the tight condition eventually let up and Bliss’s Dodge was turning fast speeds, he was unable to overcome the penalty. He eventually finished three laps down in 32nd position.

“We are pretty good,” said Bliss after starting the Ford 200 in the 21st position.  By lap 30 the Open Joist Dodge had went from good to extremely tight. Crew Chief Marcus Richmond assured Bliss they would fix the condition on the next pit stop. “I will make a track bar adjustment when we pit in about 20 laps,” said Richmond.

On lap 55 Bliss made his way to pit road for several adjustments under green flag conditions. As he hit pit road Bliss didn’t get slowed down to the minimum pit road speed in enough time before being clocked speeding by NASCAR. After that the Open Joist Racing Team changed all four tires, added fuel and went up two rounds on the track bar.  Then Bliss had to do a pass-through penalty on pit road again for speeding which placed him two laps down in 36th spot.

“The truck is not that bad,” said Bliss still running in the 36th position. “We are just stuck being two laps down,” Richmond encouraged his driver not to focus on the penalty and keep driving hard through traffic.

The second caution waved on lap 75 for debris. Bliss came to pit road for adjustments. The Open Joist Racing Team changed all four tires and made a wedge adjustment. Bliss restarted in 34th position, two laps down.

In the final laps of the Ford 200 the Open Joist Dodge became tight again in traffic. “Being stuck in traffic is not helping us any at all,” said Bliss. He finished the night in 32nd position, three laps down to the leader.

Despite a disappointing run at Homestead Bliss ended the year with eight top-10 finishes in the Open Joist Dodge.

Johnny Benson won The Ford 200 before an estimated crowd of 20,000. Kyle Busch, Rick Crawford, Kevin Harvick and Jason Leffler rounded out the top five.