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Rain Shortens Gifford's Hickory Late Model Debut
16/06/2009
Ryan Gifford and his No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil team posted a 17th-place finish in the rain-shortened Late Model event at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway on Saturday.
I want to thank everyone at Team Dillon Racing and especially Shell and Pennzoil for giving me the opportunity.
In what was Gifford's first visit to the "World's Most Famous Short Track," he wasted little time in demonstrating the strength of his Team Dillon Racing entry.
At a track that's well-known for producing some of the toughest Late Model competition in the nation, the 20 year-old driver qualified second out of a field of 23 competitors.
Starting from the outside of the front row for the 50-lap feature, Gifford slid back in the early goings, content to save his equipment and learn more about the traits of the asphalt surface.
On lap 32, Gifford was running in seventh position, just behind the No. 88 car of Dexter Canipe, Jr. When an apparent loose handling condition on Canipe's entry caused him to check up coming out of Turn 4, Gifford made contact with the rear of the No. 88, causing Canipe to spin out.
Just as the caution flag was displayed for the accident, the skies opened up and rain soaked the racing surface. Since over half of the 50-lap event had been completed, officials chose to declare the race officially over at that point.
For his part in the incident, Gifford was dropped from seventh in the running order back to a 17th-place finish, just behind the No. 88 entry.
In spite of the disappointing result, Gifford was happy with the way his car and his team performed, and is eager to make another start at the .363-mile bullring.
Dillon and his TDR crew are considering heading to a dirt track to compete this weekend, with Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn., and Cherokee Raceway in Gaffney, S.C., being two possible locations.
If they choose not to race this weekend, the team will spend its time preparing for its next NASCAR Camping World East Series event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday, June 26.
Ryan Gifford Quote:
"I'm sorry the rain washed us out, but I feel like we've got a really good car to go back there with. To sit on the front row the very first time we go to a track that has so many good competitors is a great feeling. I hate it that I got together with the (No.) 88. He got loose in front of me and I had nowhere to go to avoid him. I figured we'd probably get dropped back for that. They were being pretty strict about contact all night long, so I'm not really surprised.
"I was just happy to have such a strong car. I want to thank everyone at Team Dillon Racing and especially Shell and Pennzoil for giving me the opportunity. I just wish Mother Nature had cooperated with us a little tonight."