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Late Caution Proves Costly for Gifford

26/07/2009

There's an old saying in racing that says, if you run up front and lead enough laps, you'll get your fair share of wins.

There's an old saying in racing that says, if you run up front and lead enough laps, you'll get your fair share of wins. Had it not been for a late-race caution during Friday night's 50-lap feature at Tri-County Speedway in Hudson, N.C., it could well have been Team Dillon Racing driver Ryan Gifford celebrating his first trip to Victory Lane this season.

Instead, after Gifford led the first 44 laps of the event, a caution flag with six laps remaining set up a double-file restart. As the green flag was displayed and the field drove through Turns 1 and 2 of the banked asphalt short track, Gifford and driver David Wilson made contact, sending both drivers spinning and bringing out another caution flag.

With his No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil machine undamaged from the incident, Gifford lined up 12th for the restart. While he managed to charge his way back up to sixth position, with so few laps remaining he was unable to gain additional spots before the checkered flag was displayed.

The finish brought a disappointing end to a promising night for the 20 year-old driver. After qualifying fifth, he was moved to the front row for the start of the event after the top five starting positions were inverted.

This put Gifford on the inside of row one, right next to his TDR teammate, Ty Dillon, who had qualified fourth and also benefitted from the inversion.

When Gifford and Wilson got together, Dillon was able to take over the lead for several laps before Dexter Canipe, Jr., got by to take the win. Dillon brought his TDR entry home in second place.

Next up for Gifford and his Shell-Pennzoil team is a trip to Hickory (NC) Motor Speedway for a test session in preparation for a return trip there later this season. This weekend, plans tentatively call for Gifford to visit Iowa Speedway to observe as his other TDR teammate, Austin Dillon, competes in a NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Ryan Gifford Quote: "It was a good night, overall, for the Shell-Pennzoil team. We learned a lot and led a lot of laps. We know that if we can keep the car up front, one of these days we'll get us a win. I hated to see that caution with six to go. If it had stayed green, I think we'd have won. They don't let you choose which lane you restart in, so we were on the low side on that restart. I tried to stay low, but I got loose and got up into David. I felt like he may have pinched down on me a little bit, but it's just one of those racing deals. I got into him, then he bounced off the wall and got into me and we both ended up getting spun out.

"I'm glad to see Ty finish second, and I'm glad the fans saw the Shell-Pennzoil car up front tonight, but it was disappointing to have a car that good and not end up finishing better. With another lap or two, I think we could have gotten back up to third, but we ran out of laps there. Still, it was a lot of fun, and I want to thank TDR and Shell-Pennzoil for giving me the chance to do this."