LEXINGTON, OH (August 14, 2016) – After a good road course learning experience at Watkins Glen last week, Dakoda Armstrong and the JGL Racing team looked to put that to use once again as the series headed to a road course for the second consecutive week. In adverse weather conditions of heavy rain, Armstrong would keep his No. 28 Winfield Toyota safely on course and come home with a 21st place finish in the running of the Mid-Ohio 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
“Wow, that was wild for sure,” said Armstrong. “We had a much better car than our finished shows. We were pretty good early on in the race but when the track dried out and we went back to slicks we got behind a little. When the rain came back and we went back to the rain tires we were a top-12 car but we just couldn’t make up enough to get the finish we deserved.”
Dakoda would qualify in the 26th position for the 75-lap event. As the anticipated rain finally began falling on lap four, a caution for the rain would allow teams to come down pit road for rain tires. Once back to green flag racing the wild racing began but Armstrong would quickly gain a feel for racing in the rain and climb inside the top-15. However, as a pause in the rain began to dry out the track resulting in a green flag stop to switch back to slick tires.
The dry track conditions didn’t last long but the transition to the slicks and following laps saw the No. 28 Winfield Toyota lose valuable track position. With rain returning to the Mid-Ohio track, the teams would switch back to rain tires for approximately the final 20 laps of the event. In those closing laps Dakoda would post top-10 lap times but continue to deal with track position. At the checkered flag flew, the No. 28 Winfield Toyota would come home safely in the 21st position.
“We needed the race to be a little longer as we just needed some more laps,” added Dakoda. “Everyone on this JGL Racing team worked hard and gave me a top-12 car today. I am still working on getting the hang of this road course racing but the last two weeks have been good learning experiences and we look to put it all to use again in two weeks for the last road course of the year at Road America.”
The 21st-place finish would keep Armstrong in the 14th position in the overall NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers’ standings – only 18 points of the top-12.
The NASCAR XFINITY Series will next head to Bristol Motor Speedway for the running of the Food City 300. The 22nd race of the NASCAR XFINITY Series season will be Friday August 19th and can be seen LIVE on USA Network at 7:30 pm ET. It can also be heard on Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM Channel 90.
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