Josh Brock’s Redbud 400 day at Anderson Speedway was somewhat like being aboard the biggest roller coaster at the fair.
After battling back from two laps down, the Corbin, KY driver was in a position to battle for the lead on a late-race restart. On the race’s final turn, however, contact with another driver sent him into the wall and relegated him to a 14th-place finish.
“It was a really tough way to end the day,” said Brock. “I felt as though we had one of the best cars here and wanted the chance to see if we had anything for Raphael (Lessard, race winner). After going two laps down early because of involvement in another incident, the team stuck together and battled hard. We knew it was a long race and we had a good car. Slowly we got our laps back and then raced our way back to the front and put ourselves in a position for a win or top-three finish. It’s disappointing when that’s taken away from you.”
With qualifying cancelled due to weather, the field was set by practice times, putting Brock in the third position at the green flag. He was caught up in an early incident that forced repairs to his No. 17 Stream Restoration Specialists machine. After going down two laps early, the Josh Brock Racing team fought back and the No. 17 was in the top 10 again on lap 322. From there Brock continued his march to the front, breaking into the top-five with just over 25 laps to go and the top three on lap 386. Sitting third on a restart with five laps to go, Brock and Stephen Nasse raced hard for second position and swapped paint and tagged bumpers. The end result as the checkered flag waved ahead was Brock’s No. 17 slamming the turn four wall.
After the race, tempers flared in the pits and there was a confrontation been members of the Brock and Nasse crews.
“We are more than a team, we are a family,” said Brock. “We win as a family and we lose as a family. Any time something happens to our family, we defend one another. After the incident on the track some of my race family took their defense too far over the line. In this sport, tempers run hot and it was the end of a long and stressful race where we overcame a lot of adversity to have a chance. I was mad, as was everyone wearing a Josh Brock Racing uniform, but that can’t be an excuse.”
“As the driver and leader of this team, I take responsibility for the actions of my team and apologize to Stephen and his team for our involvement in the altercation after the race. We raced eachother hard, just like we are supposed to at the end of a prestigious race like the Redbud 400, but this time it ended with a wrecked racecar and some unfortunate social media attention.”
Brock now looks to put the Redbud 400 in his rearview mirror and concentrate on his number one goal for the 2018 season, to win an ARCA/CRA Super Series Championship. He currently leads the point standings with one race left before the tour’s chase for the championship begins.
“We will not let this incident take away from what our team and family are all about,” said Brock. “Over the course of 400 laps, we got down, but we never gave up. We will continue to build our program to be the best it can be while we look to win the 2018 championship.”
Next-up for Brock is a trip to Baer Field on Saturday, July 28th for the last regular season ARCA/CRA Super Series race.