JOLIET, IL. (September 18, 2017) -  As the NASCAR XFINITY Series entered Chicagoland Speedway for the regular-season finale, Dakoda Armstrong had his sights set on revenging last years near miss on the season ending playoffs.  However, for the second year in a row Armstrong would fall one position short after wheeling his No. 28 WinField United Toyota to a 16th place finish in the running of the TheHouse.com 300.

"Unfortunately, we fell one spot short again this year," said Armstrong.  "We had positioned ourselves well to make the playoffs but had a bad stretch of four races or so that really put us behind and we couldn't recover.  There are a lot of positives to take from this year with my JGL Racing team as everyone has worked hard to give us this opportunity.  We had a decent No. 28 WinField United Toyota this weekend in Chicago but we needed a minor miracle or a win to put ourselves into the playoffs."

Dakoda would start the running of the TheHouse.com 300 from the 20th position as a result of his qualifying effort earlier in the day.  The New Castle, Indiana native would maintain his track position through the first stage while reporting that his No. 28 WinField United Toyota started to get a little free into the corner and tight on exit.  With a trip down pit road on lap 49 for four tires, fuel and adjustments, Armstrong would continue to maintain his track position and sit in the 19th  spot at the halfway mark of the 300-mile event.

The second half of the race would find Armstrong relay that his No. 28 WinField United Toyota was better in the middle of the run as the adjustments gave him something to lean on.  Dakoda and his JGL Racing team would twice use the wave-around to remain on the lead lap in the latter stages of the event.  A trip down pit road for four fresh tires would position Armstrong in the 14th position on a late restart.  As he battled for precious spots late in the closing laps, Dakoda would take the checkered flag in the 16th position.

"It is frustrating to be so close to making the playoffs and just falling short for the second year in a row," added Dakoda.  "But we need to stay focused and last year we did just that and had some of our best runs of the season in the playoff races.  I look forward to finishing out these remaining races the best that we can."

The 16th place finish would drop Armstrong to the 13th spot in the NASCAR XFINITY Series overall driver standings - behind the 12 drivers who qualified for the season ending playoffs.

Armstrong and his JGL Racing team will next head to Kentucky Speedway for the running of the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300.  The 27th race of the NASCAR XFINITY Series season will be Saturday September 23rd and can be seen LIVE on NBC Sports Network at 8:00 pm ET.  It can also be heard on Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM Channel 90.