Jeremy Petty and crew were in Mansfield, Ohio this weekend for the Tim Richmond Memorial 200 at the Mansfield Motorsports Complex. After somewhat of a disastrous start to the day, Jeremy Petty and the Hixson Motorsports crew rallied to an ARCA tying career best finish.
The trouble started early and often for the 23 car. Mechanical difficulties plagued the Hixson Construction entry for the majority of the practice session, losing breaks, a transmission, and a clutch during the short hour and a half long practice, leading to the car being on jack stands for the majority of the afternoon.
With major work being done to the car during and after practice, the team was unable to make a qualifying attempt and had to take a provisional to get into the starting field. The determined crew worked hard to get everything put back together and running just in time to get through technical inspection and get the car pushed out to the starting grid just a half hour before the start of the race. Said Petty, “The crew deserves all the credit for the great run this weekend. They worked extremely hard to get that car up and going. It was just one of those weekends when everything seemed to go wrong, but the guys kept at it, worked hard and got it fixed. They did a phenomenal job all day long. If it hadn’t been for them, we wouldn’t have been able to run the race this weekend.”
Starting from the back of the field, Petty steadily worked his way forward from the drop of the green flag up into the top 20. It was a typical short track race on the Mansfield half mile with cautions coming early and often. Petty and the crew took advantage of the numerous cautions, coming in three of the first four caution periods of the race to make minor handling adjustments. Another caution resulted in Petty getting some front end damage that the crew was able to get repaired and sent Petty on his way in no time. After getting fresh tires for the first time at lap 130, Petty made his charge to the front with only 60 laps remaining. Working his way up to the 12th position late in the race, Petty was able to survive two late cautions and was able to hold on to the 12th place position as the race ended in a green-white-checkered finish. “We are extremely happy to come home in 12th place after the way the day started out. To overcome everything we did, to come home in one piece and in the top 15 was a great effort by everybody.”
Jeremy Petty and the team will enjoy two off weekends as they prepare for the next race on the ARCA Re/Max schedule on July 11 at Iowa Speedway.
