Catchfence

(Aug 1, 2011-Mooresville, NC) Dakoda Armstrong and his teammates on the #22 Cunningham Motorsports Dodge competed at the Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis, Indiana Thursday night in the Ansell Protective Gloves 200. Pulling the winning car from Winchester out of the trailer, Armstrong and crew chief, Paul Andrews weren’t sure how helpful the information gained from the test in June would prove to be. With the track being a very temperature sensitive track, many things would affect lap times, including the race being a nighttime race with the test and practice occurring during the day. With temperatures in the mid to upper 90s during the 90 minute practice session, Andrews and the crew made many changes to the Dodge, including adjustments to the track bar, wedge and shocks. Armstrong posted the 10th quickest speed. With Armstrong qualifying 18th, Armstrong and his team knew they had their work cut out for them when the green flag dropped.

As soon as the race began, Armstrong started his forward progress, taking over the 13th spot by lap 7. By the time the first caution flag flew, he had made it to the top 10, in 9th. Telling Andrews that the “car feels really good”, Armstrong stayed on the track. Soon after the green flag flew again on lap 40, Armstrong started getting passed by the cars that had pitted during the yellow, taking on fresh tires. On lap 60 the yellow flag flew for a spin that gave Armstrong minor damage as an innocent bystander. When asked how his car was, Armstrong stated, “tight, really tight.” The crew gave the Cardinal Ethanol, ICM, Inc./Murex Dodge 4 tires, a wedge adjustment and fuel before sending him back to the track for the green flag on lap 64. Between laps 64 and 90 (running in 9th), Armstrong was liking the changes the crew made, as he told them “the car feels really good—we are fast.” As the caution flew again just shy of the halfway mark, Dakoda told Andrews that the car was “starting to get tight again”, Andrews reassuring him that “it is probably from running so close to the other cars.”

As the second half of the 200 lap event began, Armstrong was in the 8th spot, progressing to 5th on lap 124. Just prior to the caution 12 laps later, Armstrong fell to 6th, as a car with new tires passed him. Dakoda brought the Cunningham Motorsports car in for the final pit stop, where the crew gave him 4 fresh Hoosiers, a full tank of Sunoco fuel and a wedge adjustment—sending him out in 15th, since very few cars pitted during this caution. After waiting out a 9 minute red flag, which was brought out for a wreck in turn 1 on the green flag, Armstrong once again began his movement to the front, this time from the 8th position, on lap 141. As he made his move to 5th seven laps later, the caution came out again. Telling Andrews, “the car is real good-turning real well”, Armstrong stayed on the track, inheriting the lead as the leaders pitted. With only 6 cars on the lead lap, Armstrong was able to maintain the point for 14 laps before the cars who took on fresh tires took over the position, dropping him to 4th. With 5 laps remaining, the caution flag flew for the final time for a spin in turn 1, setting up a shootout on the restart with a green, white, checkered finish as Armstrong completed the extended race in 4th.

After his final scheduled race with Cunningham Motorsports, Armstrong said, “We had a nice finish. We struggled some throughout practice and qualifying, but I am really pleased with the hard work that these guys did today to give us this finish.” Armstrong continued his 2011 season, running Friday night in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Lucas Oil Raceway, followed by five more Truck Series races during the remainder of the season.

Cunningham Motorsports has no concrete plans for the rest of the season, but is actively working on some possible options that hopefully will be announced soon. The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards will continue the 2011 season with the 13th race at Pocono Raceway Saturday, August 6, with the race covered live on SPEED.

- Cunningham Motorsports Press Release