USAR: Peachstate: Jody Lavender race notes

PEACHSTATE NOT "PEACHY" FOR LAVENDER Jody Lavender appeared to be on his way to a good finish when he got forced into the wall and out of the Aaron's 199 USAR Hooters Pro Cup Aaron's Southern Division event on June 3 at Georgia's Peachstate ...

PEACHSTATE NOT "PEACHY" FOR LAVENDER

Jody Lavender appeared to be on his way to a good finish when he got forced into the wall and out of the Aaron's 199 USAR Hooters Pro Cup Aaron's Southern Division event on June 3 at Georgia's Peachstate Speedway.

"We had a good car," said Lavender, driver of the JFco Motorsports Greased Lightning Ford No. 4n. "It was decent in the first half."

After qualifying 12th of 48 cars in misty conditions that later turned to rain and postponed the race for a day, the 27-year-old North Carolina-based racer, who normally competes in Pro Cup's Sears Auto Center Northern Division, was riding about 10th and falling back to save his tires for the end of the race.

"We might have fallen back too far," said Lavender, whose team installed a new engine in the car the night before qualifying and worked around the clock preparing for the race. "Long green-flag runs hurt us."

While fighting to remain on the lead lap, the leaders involved Lavender in their battle on lap 161 and Lavender lost in the three-wide affair and found the wall between turns three and four, relegating him to a 27th-place finish. The car was heavily damaged but should be ready for Mansfield this weekend for the Greased Lightning 250.

"I'm sore and bruised up," said Lavender. "I probably would have finished in the top 10, but was really hoping for a top five. I just needed more cautions to go my way.

"I'll be ready for Mansfield. My last two visits there resulted in top-five finishes and I'm sure we can do that again; you can bet we're going there to win."