SPARTA, KENTUCKY (July 9, 2017) - For the second week in a row, the NASCAR XFINITY Series was delayed a day due to Mother Nature. In the rain delayed running of the Alsco 300 at Kentucky Speedway, Dakoda Armstrong steered his No. 28 WinField United Toyota to a 17th place finish at the Sparta, Kentucky track.
"The weather made things interesting for the second week in a row," said Armstrong. "The track was definitely slick in the sun and we saw that in qualifying on Friday as well as the race today. Our No. 28 WinField United Toyota was strong early on in a run but the longer we got into a run we just lost a good amount of grip. Everyone on this JGL Racing team worked hard again with a challenging weekend with the weather and a new repave - but everyone did a great job and we came home with a decent finish."
Dakoda would start the 200-lap race in the 22nd position as a result of his qualifying effort on Friday afternoon. With weather delaying the race until Saturday afternoon, a different race condition would encounter the drivers and teams. Dakoda would report his No. 28 WinField United Toyota wasn't too bad but a little edgy and that there wasn't much grip off the bottom lane. As he battled the elements, Armstrong would finish the first stage of the race and remain in the 22nd position.
The second stage would find the No. 28 WinField United Toyota come to life a little as Dakoda would charge up near the top-10 before fading back in traffic. Reporting that his handling fell off later in the run, Armstrong would find himself in the 24thspot at the end of the second stage.
The second half of the 300-mile event would continue to see much of the same for Armstrong as he battled lack of grip on his No. 28 WinField United Toyota. With a few trips down pit road under caution providing some help, the New Castle, Indiana native would fight through a pit road speeding penalty and a challenging track to come home with his 14th top-20 finish of the season.
"That was a decent points day and that is the positive to take out of this weekend," added Dakoda. "The track just seemed very tricky today for me and the handling of our No. 28 WinField United Toyota. While this isn't exactly the finish we were hoping for it does allow us to keep some momentum moving forward as we head to New Hampshire next week."
The 17th place finish moved Armstrong up to the ninth spot in the NASCAR XFINITY Series overall driver standings - 16 points behind eighth place.
Armstrong and his JGL Racing team will next head to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the running of the Overton's 200. The 17th race of the NASCAR XFINITY Series season will be Saturday July 15th and can be seen LIVE on NBCSN at 4:00 pm ET. It can also be heard on Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM Channel 90.