New Hampshire Motor Speedway Awaits Craig Goess
Goess Returns to Familiar Track Fresh Off Career Best Finish
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Craig Goess, Jr. acquired his career best finish at the NASCAR Camping World East Series’ last event held at Mansfield (Ohio) Motorsports Park. Now, the young driver heads to familiar territory as the series returns to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway for this Friday’s Heluva Good! ® Fall 125. Goess and his Eddie Sharp Racing team finished 22nd in their last outing at NHMS in June, but coming off their fifth place finish at MMP, their hopes are high to continue the momentum with another strong run.
"I’m looking forward to going up to New Hampshire and the cooler temperatures,” said Goess. “As far as the track itself, it's like any other track where if the car feels good
and is running well, I'm going to be happy. An ill handling car will make you not like the track as much. We’re running the same car we have run the last couple races which
have been some of our best races. We’ve been running consistently better and look for much of the same thing this weekend with the No. 2 Greenville Toyota/Team ESR Development Toyota.”
Goess’ last outing at NHMS seemed to be more of a test session than an actual race. Crew Chief Johnny Allen had just joined up with the ESR team. Inclement weather didn’t allow much time on the track for practice. Qualifying was rained out, lining the field up by points. Throughout the race, Goess was having trouble with the handling of his No. 2 Toyota Camry and the team made constant changes to the chassis adjustment. Goess stayed out of trouble, but only managed to bring home a 22nd place finish.
“I know we’ll have a whole lot better car than the last time we raced at New Hampshire,” said Goess. “We’ll have a better setup underneath the No. 2 Greenville Toyota/Team ESR Development Toyota. That was (crew chief) Johnny Allen’s first race with us and all the guys didn’t have time to get on the same page. We’ve made a lot of progress since then and I’m sure we’ll be running much better than last time.”
Only three races remain in the 2008 NASCAR Camping World East Series season. All three are run back-to-back so that should allow Goess to keep up the momentum in this final stretch. Goess picked up two spots in the points standings by finishing fifth at Mansfield and now sits in 17th position, even after missing one event. A top-15 in the final points standings is within reach for Goess and his Eddie Sharp Racing team with some good finishes in these final events.
Practice gets underway at 11:30 a.m. and runs through 1:00 p.m. on Thursday at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The starting lineup will be determined at 3:15 p.m. On Friday, the driver introductions will take place at 4:40 p.m. with the green flag waving at 5:10 p.m. for the Heluva Good! ® Fall 125.
