Dye Continues to Make Strides For MHR at Michigan
Daniel Dye, driver of the No. 20 Champion Container Chevrolet continued to pull off peak performance for McAnally Hilgemann Racing at Michigan International Speedway (MIS) in the Saturday afternoon NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series event (NCTS) while battling adversity all race. Dye started the 150-lap event from the 26th position and knew he had work to do straight from the green flag drop. An early caution arose on lap 6 and the young driver reported to his team that he super free and was having a hard time handling his race truck. Crew chief Dewey Townsend made the quick call to pull him down pit road for a handful of adjustments, four fresh tires and a top off of Sunoco race fuel to get him through the stage where he was able to gain 10 spots for a 20th-place Stage One finish.
As Stage Two was left quiet, the No. 20 Champion Container Chevrolet was able to pick up a few spots after restarting 27th in line and rallying to a 25th-place finish in Stage Two. Still struggling with free conditions, Dye came down pit road under the stage break for a trackbar adjustment, four fresh Goodyear tires and fuel that led him to restart the final laps of the DQS Staffing & Solutions 250 23rd in line. A yellow flag fell on lap 76 that opened up a strategy call by Townsend (Dewey, crew chief) to bring Dye down pit road under the caution for four tires and fuel in hopes of gaining track position later on when green flag pit stops started to cycle. Dye reported back to his team that his truck felt really good and all he needed was some track position.
As the plan played out, another yellow flag came out on lap 88 and the majority of the field was forced down pit road which led Dye to restart the closing laps in the top spot. Dye worked a solid restarted but was quickly shoved three-wide heading down the backstretch as he started to fall back in line with no where to go. A quick move to jump back in line in the fifth position saw a caution just seconds later. A huge shuffle on the restart jumbled the field and ultimately relegated Dye to a 15th-place finish at MIS.
Daniel Dye Quote:
“We had a really fast Champion Container Chevrolet and I am bummed we never really got the chance to show it. Dewey (Townsend, crew chief) made a great call on that caution there to get us some track position and to the front but I was really struggling with free handling all afternoon and it just took over on us. Super thankful to Bill (McAnally, team owner) for letting me join the group these last few weeks and I am ready to get back into the shop later this season for Kansas.”