Catchfence

DRIVER: Cole Whitt (No. 99, Pastrana-Waltrip Racing)
EVENT: Top Gear 300 (NASCAR Nationwide Series Series)
DATE: Saturday, May 28, 2011
TRACK: Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, N.C.
RESULT: Start 14 / Finish 15

CONCORD, N.C. — Red Bull development driver Cole Whitt finished 15th in Pastrana-Waltrip Racing’s No. 99 Red Bull Toyota on Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway to match his best showing in three Nationwide starts.

A regular in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series — he’s the points leader, in fact, the first rookie and youngest ever to do so in that division — the 19-year-old Whitt started 14th and climbed to as high as sixth. But the car just wouldn’t turn to Whitt’s liking despite a rash of adjustments.

“We had a good car for about two laps and that’s about it. I don’t know what happened,” Whitt said. “We had a really good race-run car yesterday (in practice), but it just slipped away from us here today. We just could never get the thing freed up. We could never get it to turn. I tried to charge forward on one of those restarts with new tires and I thought we did all right. We just never quite got the setup.”

The finish tied Whitt’s 15th-place run in his Nationwide debut last fall at Phoenix. He also finished 17th a week later at Homestead. But it’s back to the Truck Series, where Whitt will return to Turn One Racing’s No. 60 for the June 4 race at Kansas Speedway.

UP NEXT FOR WHITT: O’Reilly Auto Parts 250, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Saturday, June 4, Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan.

- Red Bull Racing Team, Press Release