Overview
- After qualifying 13th, he climbed through the field, banked nine points with a Stage 1 runner-up and one more in Stage 2, and finished about four seconds behind Tyler Reddick.
- He said the No. 97 lacked a little turn and drive and had earlier voiced frustration over a tightening balance on the team radio.
- The second place snapped his five-race Cup road-course win streak that had put Jeff Gordon’s six-in-a-row mark within reach.
- The result moved him from 16th to fifth in the championship and left him 25 points above the Chase cutline, according to TobyChristie.com.
- He also won Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at COTA and expressed interest in additional Truck Series starts, citing cost and scheduling constraints, with Phoenix up next on March 8.