Connor Mosack completed a double-duty outing with a 17th-place finish in his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series (NCTS) start at Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday night. The driver of the No. 81 NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet Silverado RST competed in the ARCA Menards Series event earlier in the evening, was in contention for a top-10 in the NCTS event, and continues to hold the 15th position in the drivers’ point standings after 16 of 18 regular season races.
Mosack took the green flag from 17th position due to the lineup being set per the rule book after weather forced officials to cancel qualifying. In the early laps, Mosack worked methodically to crack the top-15 by lap 15 and displayed noticeable long-run pace in the first segment. Despite a tight condition and lacking grip in the front tires, Mosack’s pace sustained well throughout the run and he was able to climb to 11th by the end of Stage 1 on lap 60.
Crew chief Blake Bainbridge and the NAPA Nightvision team armed Mosack with adjustments, fuel, and four tires during the first pit stop and gained him two positions. Mosack restarted on the bottom lane in ninth on lap 71 but was held up on the inside groove. He regained the 10th position before a caution on lap 100 offered the team a chance to employ an off-sequence strategy. Mosack pitted for four tires with a few other lead lap trucks and allowed him to earn one point in 10th as Stage 2 concluded on lap 120.
The alternate tire strategy kept Mosack on-track during the Stage 2 caution and inherited the third position for the lap 130 restart. The inside lane bottled up once again as Mosack ran 12th by lap 133. Casual contact to the lower nose of the No. 81 Chevy exacerbated his continued tight handling condition over the final green flag run and relegated him to take the checkered flag in 18th position. A disqualification to the third-place finisher in post-race technical inspection resulted in Mosack being credited with 17th.
Connor Mosack Quote:
“We had a strong NAPA Nightvision Chevy on the first couple long runs tonight. Both the first and second stage we had good pace and was able to move forward. I was pretty tight in the center, but we were able to roll the bottom and make time down there to keep pace in our truck. Blake made a good call to get us some track position but we just got really tight the last green flag run. Not sure why we swung so tight, but we’ll look at everything and get ready for Watkins Glen in a couple weeks.”
MHR PR