DJ Shaw Derailed From Potential Podium Finish At Lee
Lee, N.H. (July 31, 2010): DJ Shaw was well on his way to a top-three finish at Lee USA Speedway in Friday night’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East 125. But a spin on lap 89 took the 20-year-old driver out of contention and the JLM Precision race team had to settle with a 12th place finish.
“I got wrecked,” said a dejected Shaw. “We probably had the second place car. It was a bad day for me. I hadn’t even started going yet. I felt like I could have passed Eddie (MacDonald) at any time on a long run, and if Ryan (Truex) had been patient he probably would have won that race.”
Shaw started the race from the fifth position after a strong qualifying effort earlier in the day. The qualifying run was on par with Shaw’s goals for the event.
“I was hoping for a top-five because I thought we had a good car for the long run, and that would set us up pretty good.”
Shaw maintained his position in the top-five for the first 50 laps of the race, but really started to come up through following a lap 53 restart. Shaw movedinto second for a restart on lap 60 and immediately began challenging MacDonald on the inside.
“I was just riding and Eddie was really, really stopping in the middle to hold the lead there. Ryan was equally as good as me or probably a little better.”
Crossing the start/finish line to begin lap 89, MacDonald, Shaw and Truex were nose-to-tail. Coming around turn two, Truex got into Shaw and the No. 60 JLM Precision Chevrolet went right around. The incident relegated Shaw back to the 20th position for the restart at lap 93.
“He wasn’t patient. It was frustrating because it doesn’t fix my day that he (Truex) is sorry,” said Shaw.
Shaw was just as strong coming from the back. He made his way up to 12th, but ran out of time to break back into the top-10 before the checkers fell.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East 125 will air on SPEED on Thursday, August 5 at 6 p.m. ET. Shaw and the JLM Precision race team return to action on Saturday, August 28 at Gresham Motorsports Park in Georgia.