Photo Credit Stephen Conley/SEC Imaging
One of the key segments at Mid-Ohio is called Thunder Valley. Actual thunder was the only thing missing today as Rain plagued the Mid-Ohio Challenge from the start and caused havock for nearly every driver on the track, except for one as Justin Marks who had not led a single lap prior today, but as the rain got heavier, the number 42 Katerra Chevrolet got faster.
Marks started 16th on the day but as the rain came and drivers struggled on the rain tires he would easily move through the field. Crew Chief Mike Shiplett would make the proper calls on the pit box thatwould allow Marks to work on both the rain tires and as the track dried for a short time he would face his challenges from Ty Dillon, Sam Hornish Jr.Bubba Wallace and others. Marks said after the race when the track dried out that he had some concerns with what the car would do as he was just a touch slower than the guys in front of him like Hornish and Dillon. He added that he was still watching the clouds out his windshield and the team assured him that it would rain again.
But even as the rain approached the decision was up to crew chief Mike Shiplett who said after the race that they were pretty certain that the rain would fall again and when it did the pit crew busted off their best stop going from 4th to 2nd and put them in position to let Justin do what he does best–get faster as it got wetter.
As the race began to wind down, TJ Bell would spin in turn 9 getting stuck in the gravel trap and force a caution with 5 laps to go. Marks at the time of caution had a 24 second lead, but the caution would put Ty Dillon and Sam Hornish right back on his back bumper. The final restart would see Hornish make a push past his teammate in Dillon and try to make a run but Marks chevrolet was handling just a little to well especially through the esses and down the back straight away.
Justin Marks celebrates in victory lane. It’s been a good week as he and his wife Erin welcomed a new baby to the Marks household August 5th. Congratulations on a big week.
