Aaron's 499 Report

JON WOOD MAKES THE SHOW ON SPEED AT 'DEGA AND MANAGES TO MISS THE 'BIG ONE'  

TALLADEGA, AL — Wood Brothers Racing and the Little Debbie® Honey Buns Ford Fusion, driven by Jon Wood, accomplished what they set out to do in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway and ended with a 36th place finish.

Jon Wood took the green flag in the 12th position with an impressive qualifying time of 51.618 seconds. Immediately, he elected to move to the back of the pack since the team had to make a scheduled pit stop to complete several adjustments to the No. 21 Little Debbie® Ford Fusion. 

The race team had to qualify for the race on speed, and according to the NASCAR impound rules; they could not make any adjustments to the race car after qualifying. Therefore, the only time to make these adjustments was at the beginning of the race.

Jon pulled into the garage on the first lap, so that the pit crew could make the necessary changes. The No. 21 returned to the track eight laps later ready to race. With the team being eight laps down from the leader, the strategy was to stay out of trouble and finish the race. Jon Wood and the team did just that as he took the checkered flag  on lap 188 in the 36th position.

Eddie Wood commented on how the day went. He said, “We had to do what we had to do to get in the race. We were probably too aggressive with everything we did, but we did get in the race and Jon did get a lot seat time in the draft, in the car and he ran the whole race. So, that was good for him.”

Crew Chief, Mike Smith also commented on the results. “He [Jon] did good. I mean, playing the cards that we got dealt, that was about as good as we could ask for.” He added, “ Jon stayed back far enough, when the big wrecks happened, he was far enough back where he could slow down with nobody behind him who could crash into him. It played out nice. I know it wasn’t the finish that everybody wanted, and it wasn’t the finish I wanted – it’s in the right direction and we gained points, and we were at Talladega. So, it was a good thing.” Contributed by Christina Cicci, Wood Brothers Racing

Aaron's 499 Results:
1. Kyle Busch
2. Juan Pablo Montoya
3. Denny Hamlin
4. David Ragan
5. Brian Vickers
6. Travis Kvapil
7. Casey Mears
8. Ryan Newman
9. Clint Bowyer
10. D. Earnhardt, Jr.
36. Jon Wood