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Brennan Newberry is our next guest on Fan4Racing Fan2Fan NASCAR & Race Talk on Monday, August 18, 2014 at 9 pm ET. Call 347-996-5176 during the LIVE broadcast with any questions/comments.
NTS Motorsports driver, Brennan Newberry and his No. 24 Qore-24 team raced at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) for the first time on Friday, during the promoters test day. Newberry is familiar with road course racing having competed at Sonoma, Watkins Glen and Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
“VIR is completely different than anywhere I have ever raced, it’s very technical and line sensitive,” said Newberry after testing.
Newberry worked with veteran crew chief John Monsam on what the two could do to improve for Saturday’s second annual Biscuitville 125 for the K&N Pro Series East.
When the green flag waved on Saturday, Newberry had his rhythm and raced inside the top-15 before the first caution on lap 19. He pitted under NASCAR’s direction to check for smoke. After discovering it was the tailpipes, the No. 24 car returned to the track.
Newberry restarted just inside the top-20 on lap 21 and worked his way back into the top-15 before the halfway break. After an adjustment, Newberry restarted 14th on lap 29 and by lap 34 he was knocking on the door of the top-ten.
The caution flag flew once again at lap 44 and after a quick clean up of the track, the green flag few once more on lap 47. Newberry had a great restart missing a spinning car in turn one and raced inside the top-five.
With the caution flag on lap 48, Newberry settled into eighth-place for the restart on lap 51. He worked his way back toward the top-five before being collected in an accident in turn one. He then pitted the car for damage repairs to salvage the best finish possible. After a crazy green-white-checkered finish, Newberry brought home a 13th-place finish for the No. 24 NTS Motorsports team.
“I had high hopes entering the Biscuitville 125 road race at Virginia International Raceway,” said Newberry. “I had confidence from the previous weekend at Watkins Glen as we went with the same prepared car. Unfortunately, the car didn’t respond the same to VIR as it did at The Glen. We were forced to change the setup and the team game plan after the first session on track. We did get the car where I needed it for the race, but restarts kept bunching up the field and ultimately, was my undoing for a strong finish after we made our way into the top-five. I am always proud of my Qore-24 Chevrolet Impala team and we are all keeping our heads high and look to finish out the season strong.”