Mosack’s Career-Best Outing Runs Out of Room Late at Atlanta
Venue: Atlanta Motor Speedway
FINISH: 25th
Start: 1st
Stage 1: 3rd
Stage 2: 7th
Laps Led: 30
NCTS Point Standings Position: 25th
Connor Mosack checked off a pair of “firsts” in his NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) career at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) this weekend. The driver of the No. 81 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Chevrolet Silverado RST earned his first-career pole and led his first laps in NCTS competition. Mosack’s career-best run at AMS wound up with a 25th-place finish after suffering damage in an incident in the hectic late-race draft on Saturday afternoon.
Mosack led the charge for MHR in Friday’s qualifying session as crew chief Blake Bainbridge and the No. 81 team captured the AMS pole for the second-consecutive year. The Charlotte, N.C. native took the green flag with his fellow MHR teammates in the top seven positions and dictated the first segment as a four-truck unit. Mosack led the first 29 circuits with MHR teammates close in tow and earned eight points while running third at the end of Stage 1 on lap 30.
Bainbridge brought Mosack to pit road under the stage break for fuel only as the No. 81 lined up third for the following restart. The ensuing 23 lap stint saw Mosack solidify himself as one of the strongest threats in the field as he ran inside the top 10 and earned another four points while running seventh on lap 60.
Four fresh tires to start the final stage allowed Mosack to stay in the top five and briefly regain the lead on lap 72. After making his final fuel-only pit stop under caution, Mosack patiently ran second by lap 88. As the draft began to intensify, he found himself running 13th on lap 106 and was squeezed into the Turn 2 wall, causing severe damage to the right side and left front of his Chevrolet. Mosack’s Silverado RST was too wounded to contend, but was running at the checkered flag to finish 25th.
Connor Mosack Quote:
“That’s not how we wanted our day to end, but we had an incredibly fast Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Chevy. We were all able to control the race in the first stage and even when we got shuffled back, we could get back to the front. All of our teammates were fast too, so it’s unfortunate to not get the result to go with the stage points. We just got squeezed in the wall off Turn 2 and ran out of room. We’ll go to Las Vegas in a few week and try to turn this speed into a good finish.”
