NCWTS Race Recap: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Friday, March 4
Track: Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 2.5-mile superspeedway
Race: 2 of 23
Event: Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 (134 laps, 201 miles)
Hailie Deegan, No. 1 Monster Energy Ford F-150
Start: 20th
Finish: 34th
- Hailie Deegan qualified 20th for the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The No.1 Monster Energy Ford F-150 began to climb early, jumping to 17th after the race’s initial start.
- A caution on Lap 22 brought the field in to pit, with Deegan reporting that the car could benefit from a looser condition as she came down pit road for four tires and fuel.
- As the field took the green on Lap 28, a mid-pack wreck collected the Temecula, CA native, leaving her Ford F-150 with heavy right-side damage. After extensive repair on pit road, Deegan was able to rejoin the field and met minimum speed following the Lap 38 restart. However, the damage to the truck was too much to overcome, and the 20-year-old driver pulled off for a 34th-place finish, ending her night early.
Tanner Gray, No. 15 Ford Performance F-150
Start: 8th
Finish: 6th
- Tanner Gray qualified eighth for the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 and after 19 laps found himself inside the top-five.
- The first caution of the night came out on lap 22 and crew chief Jerry Baxter called the No. 15 down pit road for tires and fuel with no adjustments.
- A wreck on the ensuring restart saw Gray skirt to the inside of turn one and escape in third. He would finish Stage 1 there for eight stage points.
- The Ford Performance driver restarted Stage 2 from the lead and settled into fourth in the opening laps. On lap 52, he cracked the top-three once again. The yellow was displayed again with five laps to go in the stage and the team decided to stay out and collect a fifth-place finish for six additional stage points.
- Gray restarted the final stage in 20th and was up to 14th by the end of the first lap. After a series of yellows, he was up to 11th and would pit from there on lap 90 for tires and fuel.
- The No. 15 cracked the top-10 once again with 38 laps remaining and slowly worked his way forward on multiple restarts. When the caution flag waved with three laps to go, Gray was sitting in seventh for the shootout. He restarted on the outside lane and carried momentum to a sixth-place finish at the checkered flag. A disqualification to the second-place finisher moved Gray up to fifth in the final rundown.
- The fifth-place run marked Gray’s second consecutive top-five finish to start the 2022 season.
Ryan Preece, No. 17 United Rentals Ford F-150
Start: 5th
Finish: 4th
- Ryan Preece started eighth for his first race of the season with DGR. After getting pinched on the opening start, he fell back to 10th and was running there when caution waved on lap 22.
- The driver reported that the truck was a little loose for his liking and the team decided to pit and restart 13th for the final laps of Stage 1. He ultimately finished the stage in 12th under yellow.
- The Connecticut native restarted sixth for Stage 2 and sustained minor damage to the right front fender on the restart. The damage made the United Rentals F-150 tight and Preece fell to 11th where he held steady until a caution flag with five laps to go in the stage allowed him to pit again. He finished Stage 2 in 13th.
- After staying out at the stage break, Preece restarted the final stage in eighth. At the lap 73 caution he was in 6th and the next caution at lap 90, he was in 7th. Crew chief Chad Johnston had him pit again for tires and adjustments. He restarted 13th.
- The United Rentals F-150 broke into the top-five with 18 laps remaining and a lap 119 caution gave the driver a chance to make a charge for the lead. On the restart, he held second briefly before settling into third and then the caution flag waved yet again.
- Preece restarted inside row 2 for the final three-lap shootout of the race. After getting loose on the inside entering turn three with two laps to go, he rallied from seventh back to fifth to earn his first top-five of the year. A disqualification to the second-place finisher moved Preece up to fourth in the final results.
Next event: Fr8Auctions 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia on March 19 at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Sources: Cullen Ronan/DGR PR