SPARTA, KY (September 25, 2016) - The NASCAR XFINITY Series rolled into Kentucky Speedway for the first race of its inaugural Chase format. In a race featuring a record number of cautions for the series at the 1-.5-mile track, Dakoda Armstrong and his No. 28 WinField Toyota team managed to secure an 18th place finish in the running of the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 at the Sparta, Kentucky track.
"Well that was a wild one out there tonight," said Armstrong. "Our No. 28 WinField Toyota was pretty good in practice yesterday and during qualifying. Once the race started we fired off real good but the longer we went in a run we just started to loose rear grip. We slowly gained on it as the race went on but it just wasn't enough for us to advance like we would have liked to."
Armstrong would start the 200 lap event from the 18th position. Once the green flag flew, Dakoda would find out that there was not much grip unless you were running on the bottom of the track. A competition caution on lap 25 allowed for a visit to pit road and an adjustment to the No. 28 WinField Toyota. Dakoda would hang around the top-20 for the first half of the race and get lucky with a timely caution for the first of two Lucky Dog awards of the race.
The second 100 laps of the race would find things get a little crazy with Armstrong safely maneuvering around multiple on track incidents. Dakoda would receive another lucky break with a caution on lap 130 as he simultaneously developed a flat right rear tire. While the loss of a fresh set of tires would hamper his progress in the closing laps, Dakoda would battle to the end and come home with his 16th top-20 finish of the season.
"We had a little luck on our side tonight and I will gladly take it," added Dakoda. "Overall we had a good car all day but the long runs just seemed to really hurt our No. 28 WinField Toyota. I appreciate all of the hard work from the guys on this team."
The 18th-place finish dropped Armstrong to 14th position in the overall NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers' standings - three points out of the 13th spot.
The NASCAR XFINITY Series will next head to Dover International Speedway for the running of the Drive Sober 200. The 28th race of the NASCAR XFINITY Series season will be Saturday October 1st and can be seen LIVE on NBC Sports Network at 3:00 pm ET. It can also be heard on Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM Channel 90.
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