WATKINS GLEN, NY (August 7, 2016) - After piloting the No. 18 Toyota in a one race deal last week in Iowa, Dakoda Armstrong returned to the seat of his full-time ride as the NASCAR XFINITY Series entered its first of three road course events on the schedule. The New Castle, Indiana native would steer clear of any on-track trouble and brought his No. 28 JGL Racing Toyota home to an 18th place finish in the running of the Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International.
"I will admit that I am not the best at road courses but today was a good learning experience for me and I look to carry that into the upcoming road course events," said Armstrong. "The combination of the new racing surface and the hard tire they brought really made the track slick and hard to get grip. My JLG Racing team did great in the pits and made some great adjustments that helped me there at the end of the race."
Dakoda would qualify in the 28th position but would drop to the rear of the field for the start of the race as a result of changing tires after a spin on his last lap of qualifying. As the 82-lap scheduled event went green, Armstrong would steer his No. 28 Toyota through traffic, and with varying pit strategy throughout the field, would climb inside the top-15 by lap 17.
Armstrong would battle the 2.45-mile road course through the middle portion of the event. With a final pit stop and adjustments, the last 20 laps of the race would see Dakoda charge his way forward and gain valuable spots. In the end, the No. 28 Toyota and its driver would come home with their seventh consecutive top-20 finish.
"There for the last 15 laps or so both the car and driver got better," added Dakoda. "The guys on this team made some great changes and I figured something out there at the end. We get to do this road course thing again next week in Mid-Ohio and hopefully we can take what we did here today and apply it there."
The 18th-place finish would move Armstrong up to the 14th position in the overall NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers' standings - only nine points of the top-12.
The NASCAR XFINITY Series will next head to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the running of the Mid-Ohio 200. The 21st race of the NASCAR XFINITY Series season will be Saturday August 13th and can be seen LIVE on USA Network at 3:00 pm ET. It can also be heard on Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM Channel 90.
"I will admit that I am not the best at road courses but today was a good learning experience for me and I look to carry that into the upcoming road course events," said Armstrong. "The combination of the new racing surface and the hard tire they brought really made the track slick and hard to get grip. My JLG Racing team did great in the pits and made some great adjustments that helped me there at the end of the race."
Dakoda would qualify in the 28th position but would drop to the rear of the field for the start of the race as a result of changing tires after a spin on his last lap of qualifying. As the 82-lap scheduled event went green, Armstrong would steer his No. 28 Toyota through traffic, and with varying pit strategy throughout the field, would climb inside the top-15 by lap 17.
Armstrong would battle the 2.45-mile road course through the middle portion of the event. With a final pit stop and adjustments, the last 20 laps of the race would see Dakoda charge his way forward and gain valuable spots. In the end, the No. 28 Toyota and its driver would come home with their seventh consecutive top-20 finish.
"There for the last 15 laps or so both the car and driver got better," added Dakoda. "The guys on this team made some great changes and I figured something out there at the end. We get to do this road course thing again next week in Mid-Ohio and hopefully we can take what we did here today and apply it there."
The 18th-place finish would move Armstrong up to the 14th position in the overall NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers' standings - only nine points of the top-12.
The NASCAR XFINITY Series will next head to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the running of the Mid-Ohio 200. The 21st race of the NASCAR XFINITY Series season will be Saturday August 13th and can be seen LIVE on USA Network at 3:00 pm ET. It can also be heard on Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM Channel 90.
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