Chad was quick during the heat of the day in both of Saturday’s practice sessions running in the top-ten in both sessions. He qualified GPSstore.com No. 07 in the seventh position and things looked good for the SS Green Light team.
The start of the race was delayed by a power failure at the track. Once the race started, Chad was able to keep pace and ran in the top-ten until the second caution of the race on lap 23. Crew Chief Bobby Dotter called McCumbee to the pits twice for Sunoco Gas and Goodyear tires. Several drivers elected for only one stop, dropping McCumbee to 18th in the running order.
McCumbee took advantage of his fresh tires and had moved up to 13th when another caution flew for an incident with Max Papis and Ricky Carmichael on lap 36. Chad was racing directly behind the pair and narrowly avoided the spinning trucks.
Chad had moved forward several more positions when a debris caution flew on lap 51. Dotter would use some strategy to gain track position by taking gas only and the plan worked to perfection moving Chad up to second spot when the field restarted on lap 54.
Chad kept pace with the leaders for many laps until his older tires began to fade. Despite the worn rubber, The GPSstore.com Chevy was still competitive staying within the top-ten as the trucks began to make green flag stops at lap 105.
Dotter called Chad to pit road on lap 110 for gas to make it to the end of the 146-lap race, but unfortunately McCumbee was penalized for excessive speed entering the pit lane and was assessed a pass-thru penalty which resulted in the team loosing two laps to the leaders and dropped the No. 07 all the way back to 18th place.
Chad was able to pick-up two places over the final twenty laps and the GPSstore.com Chevy was credited with 16th in the finishing order. Only ten trucks were able to finish on the lead-lap. “I want to than The GPS Store and Garmin for helping us out and allowing us to race here at Las Vegas,” said McCumbee. “I’m sorry we didn’t get them a better finish.”
The NCWTS has several weeks off before racing again at Martinsville Speedway on October 24th.
- SS Green Light Racing Press Release