Catchfence

Brian Scott Post-Race Recap

Dollar General 300 at Chicagoland Speedway

September 17, 2011

Race Facts

Race Highlights:

* Brian Scott earned his first career NASCAR Nationwide Series pole on Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway. He turned a lap time of 30.552 seconds in the No.11 Shore Lodge Toyota at 176.748 mph. This was Scott’s first pole in 70 Nationwide Series races. His previous best start was third at Auto Club (Fontana, Calif.) Speedway on Feb. 20, 2010.

* Scott led the field to green for the Dollar General 300, but his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was tight in the center and loose on exit. When the caution flag waved on lap seven, Scott was running in the second position and crew chief Kevin Kidd told his driver to remain on the track. Scott continued to work different lines on the track to help the car turn better until the crew could make adjustments but slipped back to the ninth position. The caution flag waved for debris on lap 45 and Scott came down pit road for a chassis adjustment to free up the car, fresh tires and fuel. He returned to the track for the restart in the eighth position.

* The adjustment immediately helped the handling on the car, the team continued to make a chassis adjustment in the left rear of the Shore Lodge Toyota to keep up with the track throughout the race. At the midpoint of the race, Scott passed the No. 33 car to take over fifth, and following green flag stops between lap 115 and lap 126 he was in the third position. He took over the second spot on lap 138 of 200 but was eventually passed by the No. 60 car and slipped to third before the checkered flag waved.

* The third place finish was his second top-10 finish in three races at Chicagoland Speedway and ties his career-best finish of third in the Nationwide Series. Scott’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Ryan Truex and Joey Logano finished 13th and 19th respectively.

* Scott gained one spot in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver standings to ninth following his top-five finish at Chicagoland Speedway. He is 13 points behind Steve Wallace in eighth place. Ricky Stenhouse Jr has a 14 point lead over Elliott Sadler at the top of the standings.

Scott Quote:

“I feel really good about our run. We had a good day all day long. We got the pole, led the first lap, but the 22 (Brad Keselowski) was really strong. We knew we were going to have to battle him all day and we needed to get our car better to do that. Through series of good pit stops and good adjustments from Kevin Kidd (crew chief), we started getting our No. 11 Shore Lodge Toyota where it needed to be and I think that the long runs towards the end of the race really played to our advantage and our favor and we were able to make up a lot of ground, pass a lot of cars and have a pretty good race with Carl (Edwards) there for second.”

- Joe Gibbs Racing Press Release