Catchfence

Justin Lofton, No. 77 Lofton Cattle Toyota Tundra

Track: Texas Motor Speedway

Event: WinStar World Casino 400K

When: Friday, June 10, 9:00 PM (Eastern)

Broadcast information: 8:30 PM (Eastern) SPEED

Last Time Out: Last weekend at Kansas Speedway Justin Lofton started 18th, ran a consistent race, and led his first laps of the season before finishing 19th. After making a quiet climb into the top-10 through the first 50 laps of the race, Lofton grabbed the race lead on lap 55, giving the California racer his first laps led not only for the 2011 season, but for his NASCAR career. He led the way for seven laps before making a pit stop. As the laps continued to click down, Lofton remained a contender, showing in or just outside of the top-10.

A caution flag with just over 30 laps remaining however through a curve to the No. 77 team, as Lofton was called down pit road for adjustments. Following the stop, the No. 77 Tunda was penalized for speeding, dropping him to the tail end of the line for the restart. With only 30 laps left to run, Lofton did all he could to reclaim positions, and did a stellar job, moving from 26th to 19th at the drop of the checkered flag.

Date With The Devil: Last week in Kansas, Lofton made his second straight visit to Fort Riley prior to the race, meeting soldiers and partaking in some of their various training sessions. As a thank you for their hospitality and their service, Lofton invited soldiers to the track with him on Saturday.

In honor of his friends within the Devil Brigade; the 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division of Fort Riley,Lofton ran a special hood on his No. 77 Toyota Tundra. The special paint scheme, the soldiers, as well as Lofton’s entire trip to Fort Riley were all documented by the SPEED camera crew. The weekend’s activities will be featured this Friday on the NCWTS Setup show airing prior to the WinStar World Casino 400K on Friday night.

Lofton at Texas: Lofton has raced at Texas three times within NASCAR competition, with a best finish of 22nd. The results however, do not reflect his runs on the Fort Worth intermediate track. Last April Lofton made his NASCAR debut at Texas in the Nationwide Series. After qualifying into the event on speed, he started the race from the 31st position and raced his way into the top-15.

While racing for position, contact from behind sent him spinning, with his day ending with a hard hit to the inside retaining wall. He ended the race in the 31st position. Lofton has two starts with Camping World Truck Series competition, with his first falling last June. He started the race 16th but finished 24th after getting caught up in a wreck near the halfway mark of the race. During the tour’s return visit in November, contact on the first lap of competition, followed by a flat tire under green flag conditions dropped him from his 17th starting position to a hard fought 22nd place finish.

Truck Information: Lofton will race chassis GR010, TRD122 this week in Texas. It is the same truck that the team raced during the last event at Kansas, qualifying 18th, leading six laps, and finishing 19th. Lofton also raced the truck earlier this season at Darlington and Charlotte, finishing 13th both times.

Lofton on Texas: “I’m looking forward to Texas because we had a really good run in Kansas last week with this truck. We ran in the top-10 for a large portion of the race. The same can be said for my starts at Texas – we’ve had good trucks and run decent, we just haven’t gotten the finishes. Hopefully this week everything comes together and we put up a strong run from start to finish.”

- Justin Lofton Media Relations Press Release