Hall Earns Top-10 in NCTS Debut at Richmond
Venue: Richmond Raceway
FINISH: 10th
Start: 21st
Laps Led: 0
No. 91 NCTS Owners’ Points Position: 13th
Connor Hall represented the short track community well in his NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series (NCTS) debut at Richmond Raceway and came away with a 10th-place finish. The driver of the No. 91 A-All Mini Storage Chevrolet Silverado RST constructed a workman-like effort throughout the night as all four MHR trucks finished inside the top-10 for the first time in the team’s history. Hall, the current zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock points leader, used his short track expertise to notch the No. 91 team’s fifth top-10 result of the season.
The Virginian steadily got his feet under him by posting the 14th-fastest time in practice and qualified 21st. When the green flag dropped, Hall employed his experience of preserving tires to his advantage and used the long green flag run to crack the top-15 by lap 56. As the race’s first caution flew, crew chief Darren Fraley brought Hall to pit road with the majority of the field to take on fresh tires. Hall lined up 14th for the restart on lap 64 and closed out Stage 1 on lap 70 in 13th position.
A hectic restart on lap 80 temporarily knocked Hall from 12th back to 19th as the balance on his Chevrolet transitioned to be too tight. A caution late in the second segment, just past halfway, was a beacon of fortune for Hall, as he pitted for another set of fresh tires under thet caution on lap 128. He was able to restart 11th on lap 135 and ran 12th at the end of Stage 2 on lap 140.
After restarting 11th on lap 150, Hall broke into the top 10 during a series of three caution flags. He was scored 10th on a lap 188 restart as the No. 91 team elected to save their final set of tires. As others drove by with fresh rubber, Hall ran 17th when a fortuitous caution waved on lap 224. Hall restarted 14th on lap 231 and navigated two chaotic restarts in the waning laps to capture a top-10 finish in his first NCTS start.
Connor Hall Quote:
“I’m not used to truck restarts. You see it on television, and it looks crazy, but until you’re in the middle of four wide it’s pretty nuts. As far as that aspect, the restarts are definitely crazier. I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect to go four wide here. I thought maybe three was pushing it. But as far as my expectations, I knew the truck was going to be really good, obviously they have amazing stuff. I just knew that it was going to be my job to kind of catch up to the truck. I thought by the end, just going into it now, I was I could have started the race off where the truck is now, balance-wise. Just because I think I can actually guide it to where we wanted it. Overall, really grateful. Really thankful for TowneBank. Really thankful for A-All Mini Storage, Bill McAnally, and everyone at MHR, and everybody who makes this thing go round. This is a big opportunity for me.”
