Brett Moffitt, driver of the Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE) #11 AISIN Toyota Camry, powered to a strong second place finish on Saturday evening, July 21st, leading the way to the most successful team finish in the company’s existence, with both HRE cars coming home in the top five in the Jegs 150 at Columbus Motor Speedway in Columbus, Ohio. At the end of the night, Moffitt had extended his 4 point lead in the championship standings to 22 points.
Crew Chief Dave McCarty and the team again brought a car with speed in it, and Moffitt clocked the fastest time in the first practice session at 14.441 seconds (83.014 mph) around the .333 mile semi-banked asphalt oval. The #11 team elected to work on race set up and did not make a mock pole run during the second practice session.
Going out fifteenth of the twenty-two entries in the qualifying order, Moffitt qualified the car in fifth position, starting from the inside of the third row, with a lap time of 14.335 seconds (83.627 mph).
“After qualifying, I wasn’t very happy with the car,” Moffitt commented. “We were too free on the qualifying run, but when we started the race, the car was very tight. It was so tight that it felt like it was plowing, and I was worried about us being able to have a top finish, but as the sun went down, our car came to life. The changing track temperatures and conditions had an impact every car in the race tonight.“
The first caution flag of the night was displayed on lap 15 for a multi-car spin in turn two, with Moffitt still riding in the 5th position. By lap 41, NASCAR had scored him in 4th, and Moffitt took over the 3rd position on Lap 45. Caution for a 3 car incident on the backstretch bunched up the field again on lap 47, and on lap 52, Moffitt took over 2nd place. By lap 58, the commentators noted that the two leaders had pulled away from the rest of the field.
The caution flag waved again on lap 62 for a car stopped in turn 2, and when the green flag flew on lap 67, Moffitt managed to duck back into line behind the leader and hold onto the 2nd spot.
A multi-car incident on lap 96 brought the caution back out again, with Moffitt still running in 2nd. Again, he managed to duck back into line when the green flag waved on lap 104, and Moffitt maintained his hold on 2nd place.
Yet another incident brought the yellow back out on lap 115, and at the drop of the green on lap 123, Moffitt could not get back into the racing groove and fell back to 3rd on the restart. This last green flag of the night resulted in a shakeup of much of the running order. On lap 130, Moffitt had to fall back to 4th, but he continued to keep pressure on the 3rd place car. As the laps wound down, the 2nd place car slowed suddenly and made its way back to pit road with a flat tire, but the yellow flag was not displayed. Moffitt seized the opportunity to retake the 2nd position, but with the green flag staying out, the field was not regrouped late in the race, and there was no opportunity to challenge the leader.
After this fairly typical 150 lap short-track scrap, where the yellow flag flew 6 times for 35 laps, where almost 25% of the total laps were run under caution, and with only 12 cars remaining on the lead lap by the time the checkered flag waved, points leader Moffitt managed to stay out of trouble, keep the fenders on it, and bring the #11 AISIN Toyota home in 2nd. What had been a slim points lead at the start of the event had grown to a more comfortable lead of 22 points. Moffitt explained, “At the end of the race, the other championship contenders had problems, so we had a great points night for the second week in a row. We were especially glad to have a strong finish tonight, because the President of AISIN was one of HRE’s guests in the garage area this evening.”
This was Moffitt’s 4th consecutive podium finish, his 7th top five, and 8th top ten in 9 races on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East’s 14 race schedule. The #11 HRE Toyota team’s consistency and strong finishes have brought them from what was a 36 point deficit after an oil line broke during the first race of the season to what is now a 22 point lead, a turn-around of 58 points, representing more than the maximum points that can be achieved during one entire race, including all available bonus points that can be awarded.
“We had a good night,” HRE team owner, Shigeaki Hattori stated. “We had the Presidents from both AISIN and Advics in the garage area as our guests, and to run so well with them in attendance will only help our program in the future.”
The Jegs 150 will air on SPEED TV on Thursday, August 2nd at 3 p.m.
Moffitt, a Grimes, IA, native is looking forward to the next event on the schedule, which is the Pork Be Inspired 150 on Friday, August 3rd at Iowa Speedway in Newton, IA. This will be a combination race with both the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and the Pro Series West participating in the second combo event of the 2012 season.