Jay Beasley’s Top-5 performance this past weekend didn’t come as a surprise to the Rev Racing veteran, nor his crew. Prior to the Bowman Gray race, Beasley and his crew chief decided to change his car set-up to one that had proven successful at Bowman Gray, Langley, and Columbus in past years. Therefore, with proven set-up, all Beasley would have to do is use his driving acumen to deliver a top-5 worthy performance; and he did just that.
Beasley’s time at Langley Speedway was a little up and down. With the opportunity to test the day prior to the race, he and his crew chief decided to experiment a little with the hopes of gaining a few tenths. As a result, Beasley spent nearly the entire five-hour practice in the seat, with both positive and negative results.
Unfortunately, the positive results didn’t immediately translate come race day. During first practice Beasley barely secured the 15th fastest time. However, with a little more tinkering Beasley was able to reel off the sixth fastest time by the conclusion of second practice. Shortly afterwards, Beasley qualified 12th for the race. His qualifying effort wasn’t as favorable as he would have like, however the Las Vegas native remained unfazed. Ultimately verified during the race, Beasley’s qualifying effort was not a foreshowing of the race, yet a mere sign that it was going to take more than 2 laps for him to find his groove.
Sure enough, after Beasley took the green flag he slowly but surely made his way through the pack over the course of the 175-lap race. He listened to his spotter, utilized straight-aways, and capitalized on opponent’s mistakes until he improved enough to take the checkered in fifth.
One of the most daunting aspects of the race was not a single performance, but the effects of the field going nearly 70-80 laps without a caution. At one point during the race, it was nearly impossible to determine placing as only 10 out of 24 cars competing were on the lead lap. Finally a caution with 30 or so laps to go allowed everyone to regroup. But the laps leading up to that were definitely a spectacle rarely seen in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East.
Beasley’s teammates had a solid night as well as they all managed to finish inside of the top-15. Kenzie Ruston, Devon Amos, and Collin Cabre finished the Visit Hampton VA 175 in 12th, 14th and 15th, respectively.
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