Catchfence

After consistent practices and a 4th place qualifying effort, the #21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion took to the track Sunday before a crowd of over 180,000. Crew Chief David Hyder and the team did a great job preparing and adjusting the car. For the first three quarters of the Brickyard 400, the car raced in and around the top ten, often posting the fastest lap times.

Unfortunately, during the last pit stop of the day, a lugnut from the left front tire change became lodged between the new tire and the hub and prevented the tire from being properly tightened. The unfortunate chain of events required the car to come back to pit road and resulted in the car going one lap down. Bill eventually brought the car to the checkered flag in 26th place.

With over 60 years of racing under his belt, Leonard Wood said after the race that there was an imprint of the lugnut on the inside of the wheel and that in all his years of racing he had never seen something like that happen.

While the initial reaction was disappointment, after further reflection, the team couldn’t help but felt good about the weekend. Co-owner Eddie Wood said “With all the moving parts and pieces, strange things happen. The car ran well, Bill drove hard, and the team performed well. We can take those positives and continue to get better. The results can’t help but come. We’re getting really close.”

- Wood Brothers Racing, Press Release