04/11/2015
Reed Earns 15th-Place Finish In Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas (April 11, 2015) – After a two week hiatus for the NASCAR XFINITY Series, Ryan Reed and the No. 16 Lilly Diabetes American Diabetes Association team returned to the track on Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS,) bringing home a 15th-place finish.
The team unloaded on Thursday with a new setup and took to the track for two practice sessions. After quickly realizing the car‘s handling was not where they needed it to be, Crew Chief Seth Barbour and team tried several adjustments throughout the practice sessions to move the No. 16 Ford Mustang up the speed charts.
“I was amazed with the improvements that Seth and the team made after we struggled in Thursday’s practice sessions,” said Reed. “We were not where we needed to be on Thursday when we unloaded and I could tell a huge difference in how the car handled when I made the first qualifying run on Friday. We continued to make improvements during the race to gain track position, but I didn’t help us out with the penalty on pit road. We’ll move on to Bristol and hope to get Lilly Diabetes a good finish in the Drive to Stop Diabetes 300. “
Reed started the 200-lap event on Friday night from the 14th position and had moved up to the 11th position when the first caution flag waved on the backstretch of the opening lap.
By the Lap 16 caution flag, Reed had moved up to the 10th position and reported the car was really tight through the center and tight under throttle. The team brought him down pit road for four fresh tires and fuel under the caution.
On the following run, Reed maintained the 13th position, but reported the car was still tight. The team made their second pit stop of the day during the Lap 63 caution period, making a track bar adjustment and taking a spring rubber out of the left rear of the car.
Throughout the middle part of the race, Reed continued to report tight conditions in the center of the turns, but added the car was loose coming out of the turns and was lacking rear grip. The team brought Reed down pit road on Lap 116 for a green-flag pit stop, adding two rounds of wedge in the left rear of the car.
By the Lap 127 caution flag, Reed was the first car one lap down and earned the free pass to get back on the lead lap. The team brought Reed down pit road for four tires and no adjustments as Reed had reported the car’s forward bite had improved significantly.
Reed was up to the 14th position by the final caution flag on Lap 167. During the stop for four tires and a wedge adjustment, Reed received a penalty from NASCAR for driving through too many pit stalls on the entry to his pit box. To serve the penalty, Reed came back down pit road for four fresh tires.
The team restarted in the 17th position on Lap 174 and Reed quickly reported the car’s handling was now loose. With five laps to go, Reed indicated that he may have a right rear tire going flat, but held tight to the 15th position, where he would finish the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300.
Reed’s finish at TMS is his fifth top-15 finish of the season. He remains the only NASCAR XFINITY Series regular to win a race in the 2015 season.
He leaves Texas fifth in the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship standings, 22 behind points-leader Ty Dillon.
Reed and the No. 16 team return to the track next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Drive to Stop Diabetes 300, presented by Lilly Diabetes.
