St. Louis: Tony Jackson Jr. race report

An top-twenty for Tony Jackson Jr.

Madison, IL -- July 17, 2010. Tony Jackson Jr. is getting quite an education as a rookie in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In four starts, he has been to short tracks, high-banked mile and a half speedways and this week he was on the egg-shaped mile and a quarter just three hours from his Lebanon, MO home.

The CampingWorld.com 200 was originally scheduled to run on run at the Gateway International Raceway on Friday night, but a power outage at the speedway prevented the tracks lights to fully function and the race was postponed to the heat of Saturday afternoon.

Jackson had a very good qualifying run, posting a solid lap of 34.35 seconds on the tricky track, good for the seventeenth starting spot. "I was very pleased with Tony's lap in qualifying," said Crew Chief Jason Miller. "Tony had never seen the track prior to practice and he picked it up very quickly."

At the start of the race, Jackson was bottled-up in traffic and was caught-up in several battles on the difficult to pass track, eventually loosing a lap to the leaders.

Miller kept Jackson on the track during a caution for debris just before the halfway point of the 160-lap race, using the waive-around to put back on the lead lap. The strategy worked out perfectly as a quick caution came out for a multi-truck wreck allowed Jackson to get fresh tires and fuel.

Tony restarted sixteenth following the caution and raced hard on the outside moving up several spots when slight contact was made between Jackson and another truck caused some minor damage to the No. 07 Chevy. "I think that the toe was knocked-out after the contact," said Miller. "Tony struggled with a tight condition for the rest of the race."

With about thirty laps to go, the tight condition pushed the No. 07 up into the outside wall coming out of turn two and caused slight damage to the right side, slowing Tony's Chevy for the run to the checkers.

Jackson was able to hold on and keep the No. 07 on the lead lap until the very end of the 200-mile race and crossed the line in eighteenth place behind Kevin Harvick, who dominated most of the race from the pole for his third NCWTS victory of 2010.

"I would have loved a little better finishing position, but it was a good experience. We were better in three and four and I think most of the quicker trucks were better in one and two so we lost a little there, the turns are really tricky."

"It was warm racing in the heat of the day," Tony continued. "It's a tough track and I definitely learned a lot and it will make the next trip there easier."

"Over-all it was not a bad weekend," Miller added. "I think Tony learned a lot. He's shown to me that he has the talent to make-it at this level and every time we have raced together he has improved. I am very pleased with his progress as a driver."

The next race for Tony Jackson Jr. in the SS Green Light No. 07 is Friday, August 27th in the Chicagoland 225 at the at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL.

-source: ssglr