Goess Scores Career-Best Finish at Mansfield

Fifth Place Run Shows Great Progress in Rookie CW East Season

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Craig Goess, Jr. traveled to the Buckeye state to compete in his first race at Mansfield Motorsports Park this past Saturday.  Goess' trip proved fruitful, as he earned his career-best finish in the NASCAR Camping World East Series.  Goess and his No. 2 Greenville Toyota/Team ESR Development Toyota finished in the fifth position.  The 27-year-old driver was also awarded the Sunoco Rookie of the Race honors by being the highest finishing rookie contender.

“It was just a fun weekend,” said Goess.  “We had a good car when we unloaded and didn't really have to adjust a whole lot on the car.  We weren't turning day into night for a change.  We did chase one electrical problem which didn't allow us to get a mock qualifying run in, but we were able to fix it and still qualified 10th.  We probably could've done a little bit better if we were able to tweak it from the mock run, but it was still a good start for the No. 2 Greenville Toyota/Team ESR Development Toyota.”

As the green flag waved on the 150 lap event, Goess started making his way up to the front. When the caution waved for the second time on lap 27, Goess brought the No. 2 Greenville Toyota/Team ESR Development Toyota down pit road to the attention of his Eddie Sharp Racing team.  Crew Chief Johnny Allen requested tape be pulled off the grill and sent Goess on his way.

The race restarted with Goess in the 17th position after having made his way up to sixth place before the caution.  Goess tactfully picked off positions and the No. 2 Greenville Toyota/Team ESR Development Toyota sat in seventh place on the final

restart at lap 150 after having survived 10 more caution periods.  With a green, white,

checkered finish, Goess was able to pick off two more spots which enabled him to secure his first top-five finish of the season.

“We were running sixth when we decided to pit to pull tape off,” detailed Goess.  “We had to go to the rear then and I knew I had some work ahead of me.  We were able to get up to seventh and then on that last restart, I just went three-wide down on the bottom and made it stick.  The car was towed way out and it wasn't driving as good as it was earlier in the race.  It just makes me wonder what we could've done if we hadn't had to pit.  It was our best finish of the year and I'm really looking forward to the next three or four races we have left on the schedule.”

After making his first start at MMP, Goess offered up his thoughts on the track.

“I really liked the track.  As a driver, when the car is handling well, you're going to like the track.  It's pretty similar to some other ones I've raced on.  It was a great race for us and I'm looking forward to watching it on SPEED.  It should be very entertaining.  The phrase 'rubbing's racing' certainly applied at Mansfield.”

Craig Goess and Team ESR will have two weeks off before their next event. The NASCAR Camping World Series East returns to action on September 12 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Qualifying for the Heluva Good! Fall 125 takes place on Thursday, September 11th at 3:15 p.m. The green flag for the 125-lap event flies on Friday, September 12th at 5:10 p.m. All times are EASTERN.

Craig Goess