Goess Heads to Music City
Music City Motorplex Next on Goess' List
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Craig Goess and his No. 2 Greenville Toyota/Team ESR Development Toyota head to the Music City Motorplex in Nashville for this weekend’s NASCAR Camping World East Series’ seventh race of the season. Goess is looking to turn his season around after a rough race last weekend at Thompson International Speedway (CT). Goess plans to bank on his crew chief’s prior experience at the historic facility to get him up to speed at a track in which he’s never competed.
“Last weekend pretty much was a disaster,” said Goess. “We tested, thought we had a good baseline set-up and were totally out in left field once we hit the track. The race wasn’t much better and I was just glad to finish it. I’m ready to put Thompson behind us and go to Nashville with a better outlook.”
Goess’ outlook appears a little brighter heading to Nashville having new crew chief Johnny Allen alongside. Allen has been to the Music City Motorplex on several occasions ranging from Late Model competition to when the NASCAR Nationwide Series used to compete there before moving to Nashville’s new venue, the Nashville Superspeedway. Allen’s experience will hopefully carry over and allow Goess to make up some much needed ground.
“I’m looking forward to returning to Music City Motorplex this weekend,” said Allen. “I’ve had a lot of experience there, including three All-American 400 wins [Late Model Series]. I think Craig will really enjoy this track.”
Goess hopes he enjoys the Music City Motorplex too. Thompson was a rough race, as Goess fought an ill-handling machine. Along with a couple altercations on-track, the No. 2 Greenville Toyota/Team ESR Development Toyota suffered some damage that will require repair.
“We definitely will have to take a different car to Nashville,” said Goess following the Thompson race. “It’s physically impossible to be able to race that thing. It needs some open heart surgery before returning to action.”
The car Allen has chosen for Goess to pilot at MCM is No. 207, which competed last week at Thompson as the No. 22 with Eric Lux behind the wheel. Lux was making his NASCAR Camping World East Series debut with Eddie Sharp Racing and finished just ahead of Goess in 23rd position.
Practice for the Strutmasters.com begins at noon on Saturday and runs until 1:00 p.m. A final session gets underway at 1:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. Starting positions will be determined through time trials that take place at 3:00 p.m. An autograph session on-track will be held at 6:30 p.m., followed by pre-race ceremonies at 7:15 p.m. The green flag will wave at 7:30 p.m.
