ELKHART LAKE, WI. (August 28, 2017) - Road America is a long and challenging road course and one that tests both driver and machine. On Sunday, Dakoda Armstrong found out just how challenging it can be as he brought home his No. 28 WinField United Toyota to a 22nd place finish in the running of the Johnsonville 180 at the Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin track.
"For the second week in a row we struggled and didn't have things fall our way," said Armstrong. "We battled some transmission issues in practice but we got that figured out before the race. Then we had a few issues on pit road during the race that hurt us a little as well. Also we seemed to struggle on the right-hand corners for most the race on our No. 28 WinField United Toyota."
Dakoda would start the 45-lap race from the 16th position with qualifying being cancelled and the starting lineup determined by the current owner's points. Early in the first stage, Dakoda would radio to his JGL Racing crew that his No. 28 Toyota was a little tight through the right-handed corners. With typical road course pit strategy being played early, Armstrong would find himself in the 21st position at the end of the first 10 lap stage.
The second stage would find much of the same with a trip down pit road on lap 11 allowing for four tires, fuel and adjustments for Armstrong. As the race neared the halfway mark, Dakoda would remain in the 21st position at the end of the stage.
While still battling the right-hand turns, Armstrong would find himself inside the top-10 with 10 laps remaining in the event. However, the New Castle, Indiana native would still need one more trip down pit road and he did just that under green flag conditions on lap 35 and gave up substantial track position in the process. The closing laps would see the field spread out and Armstrong settle into the 22nd position - where he would remain until the checkered flag.
"This is a tough one to swallow for sure," added Dakoda. "We came into the week 10th in the points but with the developments here in Road America we find ourselves outside of the playoffs.
We will have to race our hearts out here over the next few weeks and rebound from these tough last two races."
The 22nd place finish dropped Armstrong to the 12th spot in the NASCAR XFINITY Series overall driver standings - four points behind 11th place.
Armstrong and his JGL Racing team will next head to Darlington Raceway for the running of the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200. The 24th race of the NASCAR XFINITY Series season will be Saturday September 2nd and can be seen LIVE on NBC Sports Network at 3:30 pm ET. It can also be heard on Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM Channel 90.