Charlotte Roval Race Report
Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021
Race 29 of 33: Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval
Buford’s Finish: 16th
Jade Buford and the No. 48 Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers team came up just one position shy of their fifth top-15 finish of the season on Saturday, placing 16th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
Rolling off the grid from the 19th position, Buford was holding steady inside the top 20 from the drop of the green flag before getting caught up in a multi-car incident on lap 2 that brought out the caution. The No. 48 Camaro suffered only minor damage to the nose and Buford lined up 36th for the restart on lap 4. From there, the rookie driver only advanced his position, driving up to 15th before making a pit stop for four tires and fuel with three laps left in the stage. Not long after he was back out on the track, the caution came out for fluid on the track. About that same time, the team was alerted that they needed to serve a penalty for going over the wall too early for their green-flag stop.
With Stage One ending under caution, Buford would need to line up at the tail end of the field to serve his penalty at the start of the second stage. Once the green flag waved on lap 22, it didn’t take Buford long to work his way forward. He was racing up inside the top 25 and was scored in 23rd when a caution came out on lap 36. Under the yellow flag, crew chief Patrick Donahue made the call for Buford to come in for four fresh tires and fuel. He restarted in 29th on lap 37 and advanced his position to 24th before the green-and-white checkered flag waved to end Stage Two.
With some cars pitting during the stage-break, Buford lined up 12th for the start of the final stage and held strong inside the top 15 throughout a long-green flag run. As the run went on, the No. 48 Spiked Coolers Camaro began losing grip, so when a caution came out with four laps to go, the team opted to pit for four tires and fuel. Buford restarted in 18th with just two laps remaining and gained two positions to take the checkered flag 16th.
Jade Buford, driver of the No. 48 Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers Chevrolet:
“Our Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers team did a great job today making adjustments to improve the handling of our Camaro and we had to overcome a lot today. We were so close to getting another top 15 and I think we had a car capable of finishing higher than we did. We just ran out of time there at the end. We have four more races left in the season and we’re going to do what we can to keep the momentum going and finish the year on a high note.”
Next Up:
The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway for the Andy’s Frozen Custard 335 on Saturday, Oct. 17. Tune in to NBC at 3 p.m. ET.