(5-20-12) - The 2012 season finally moved a step in the right
direction for JTG Daugherty Racing Development Driver, Cale
Conley. After several misfortunes early on in the season,
Cale found success at Iowa Speedway when the K&N East and West
series met for a combination race.
Cale qualified 13th of the 47 cars that took part in
the qualifying sessions. This would put him on the inside of
the 7th row for the start of the race.
The green flag dropped at 7PM as Brett Moffitt lead the field to
green. By lap 5 Cale had cracked the top 10 and had his
sights set on gaining several more positions. Lap-by-Lap Cale
slowly picked off more cars and also fought his way through some
lap traffic.
NASCAR announced before the race that there would be a
competitions caution on lap 75, which would give all the teams a
chance to change tires and make necessary adjustments to the
cars.
At lap 75, Cale was comfortably riding in 3rd place
and as the caution flag flew he brought the car in for 4 new tires
and also some air pressure adjustments. Cale and Veteran
NASCAR Crew Chief, David Hyder, felt great about the car during the
first segment of the race. On the ensuing restart Cale lost a
spot to Chase Elliott, but gained it back in the very next
corner. Then on lap 80 Cale passed Kyle Larson for
2nd place with his sights set on Brett Moffitt who had
led every single lap of the race.
Cale pulled to within a car-length of Moffit at one point, but
then fell off as Moffitt continued to put distance on the
field. A caution on lap 126 brought the field back
together for a 25-lap shootout.
The Green flag waved again on lap 134 as Cale restarted in
2nd place. He quickly jumped on the back bumper of
Moffitt where he rode for several laps. On lap 144 Cale made
his move to the inside of Moffitt and attempted to take over the
top spot. This was the first challenge that K&N Veteran
Moffitt had seen all night. Cale stuck to the inside of
Moffitt for 2 laps as the battled back and forth. On lap 146 Cale
and Moffitt entered turn 1 in side-by-side. Neither driver
backing off, they made contact high in turn 1. Both drivers
were able to save their racecars, but Chase Elliott took advantage
of the hard racing ahead and took the lead.
Another caution came on lap 147 as Cale was still shown in the
2nd spot. Showing substantial damage to the right
side of his car, Cale was unable to keep up with Elliott on the
restart. He was still in 2nd but was then passed on the last
lap by Ryan Blaney. Fortunately, Cale was able to hold on to
the ill-handling car for one more lap and claim his career best
3rd place finish at Iowa Speedway. Chase Elliot,
son of NASCAR Legend Bill Elliott took the win, Ryan Blaney, son of
Current NASCAR Sprint Cup Driver, Dave Blaney, took second, and
Cale Conley rounded out the podium finishers. The race will
air on SPEED Chanel May 31st, at 3PM.