Catchfence

Loudon, N.H. (June 27, 2009): Dustin Delaney was a solid fixture in the top-10 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s Heluva Good! Summer 125 Friday night, but late race contact with Patrick Long ended his solid run and relegated the driver to a disappointing 17th place finish. The event marked the halfway mark for the NASCAR Camping World Series East with Delaney currently seventh in the championship point standings.

“We were a top-five car today,” said a dejected Delaney following the race. “He (Patrick Long) is not in it for the points, and he said he wanted to get his point across to me. It’s very frustrating to have a good run come to an end like that.”

Delaney started the race from the 11th position and maintained his position in the early going of the event. The first caution flew at lap 39 with Delaney following the leaders down pit road for fuel. He returned to the track in ninth for the restart.

Delaney maintained his position in the top-10 before pitting one more time for tires at lap 65. The No. 39 Delaney Infrastructure Chevrolet was lined up in 15th following the pit stop and was ready to turn up the heat. With half the race in the books, Delaney was ready to make his presence known in the front.

The young Mayfield, N.Y. driver gained three spots before caution was out once again two laps later. This time he would take the green from 12th and advance to ninth before caution slowed the pace once again.

Following the lap 81 restart, Delaney got involved in a battle with Long for a top-ten position. The two made contact and the No. 39 Chevrolet was relegated deep in the field.

“I got into him and I let him go and let him get his position back,” explained Delaney. “I let his momentum go, I waited a lap, and I got back underneath him. Then he just drove me right down the frontstretch. We were almost into the wall but I let off. When he came across he just knocked the toe way in.”

Delaney could only hang on for the remainder of the race and salvage a 17th place finish – certainly not indicative of his performance throughout the day.

“We’ve had a really good season this year,” said Delaney. “We’ve been improving week in and week out and we had hoped to continue that here at New Hampshire. We ran better than 17th today and my crew deserved a better finish then this.”

- Delaney Motorsports Press Release