Roulette Recap will follow a randomly selected NASCAR Xfinity Series driver throughout a race and recap their efforts. The driver may face calamity on lap one or start from the rear and win the race – there is no telling ahead of time. May the odds be ever in the driver’s favor.
Andy’s Frozen Custard 300
With a P30 time in practice, Dawson Cram bettered that in qualifying. He racked up a P25 spot in just his ninth NASCAR Xfinity Series start. This was already three spots better than his 2023 average starting position.
Before the green flag waved, Cram worked out some last-minute details with his spotter. He then thanked his team and said, “We’ve done all we can do! Let’s see how it plays out from here.”
Stage 1
The first two laps were interesting, to say the least. The No. 1 of Sam Mayer immediately had a tire go down and slammed the wall. From there, the No. 98 of Riley Herbst went into the PJ1 and got very loose. He also slammed the wall. Both drivers were out of the race within three laps of the start.
Meanwhile, Cram worked his way to P20 as the first caution waved. During the yellow, Cram’s team discussed the options and opted to take the bottom lane considering how slick the PJ1 was. He restarted P24 on Lap 8.
Throughout the subsequent laps, Cram was coached by his spotter on how to tackle his entry and exit.
Three laps later, the caution waved again as the No. 38 of Joe Graf, Jr. got into the No. 53 of Patrick Emerling. Unfortunately, this happened behind Cram so he was not able to gain any spots.
His spotter continued to encourage the young driver, “Three guys have taken themselves out of this already. We just need to survive and we can get a top 20 out of this thing.”
Once again, the No. 74 team agreed the bottom lane was the best spot to be given the slickness and the chaos. The second restart came on Lap 17 with Cram sitting P26. He gained a spot on the restart and was starting to settle in when the No. 10 of Daniel Hemric plowed through the grass and fell toward the back of the field.
First Stage Finally Finishes
Lap 21 saw Cram claim P21, just ahead of the No. 2 of Sheldon Creed. On Lap 28, Cram was told, “Your lap times are better than the four [cars] in front of you.”
Cram flirted with P20 but settled back to P21 with eight to go. He lost another spot as the No. 29 of Kyle Sieg got around him. His spotter said, “Five perfect laps and we’ll stay on the lead lap.” Indeed, race leader Justin Allgaier was just four cars back.
Finally, a chaotic opening stage came to a close with Cram in P22, with only 23 cars on the lead lap. He told his team, “Things weren’t terribly bad up in that PJ1.” Then they discussed how much to free up his machine.
The team opted to pit with lap-down cars so as to not mess up things for any Playoff drivers, especially the leader.
His crew chief noted, “We are putting used tires on, so just be patient with things.”
Stage 2
After adjustments, tires, and fuel, Cram was encouraged by his crew chief, “You did a great job. We’re going to stay out of trouble here on old tires. We’re not looking at the end of the day yet.” Cram lined up P22 to start Stage 2 on Lap 52, likely hoping for a calmer stage.
However, four short laps later, the next caution waved. The No. 6 of Brennan Poole went through the infield grass and slammed the pit road wall hard.
Scary hit for @brennanpoole into the @TXMotorSpeedway pit wall.
He's out of the No. 6 and everyone on pit road seems to be alright. pic.twitter.com/bppLtzEpgw
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) September 23, 2023
Cram restarted P22 on Lap 64, and his spotter’s keyword was, “Protect.” However, before much protecting could be done, the No. 45 of Jeffrey Earnhardt slammed the wall. Astonished, his spotter said, “These guys are being so impatient. Nothing you could do there.”
Cram stayed out in P21 for the next restart which came on Lap 70. One lap later, he found himself sitting top of three. Unfortunately, in the melee, he lost a couple of spots. His spotter reminded him, “You’re on old tires, you’ll get new ones soon.”
With 17 to go, the battle was once again to stay on the lead lap. But, as the second stage came to a close, Cram found himself P23 and, fortunately, on the lead lap.
Before coming to his crew, he asked to go back on the previous adjustments, stating, “You guys got me a bit too free there.”
Stage 3
With fresh tires and a tank full of fuel, Cram lined up P19 for the final stage. The next caution came immediately as Trevor Bayne and Josh Berry got into each other taking the No. 91 of Kyle Weatherman with them. Cram slid through and just missed getting collected in the carnage.
Cram was scored P17 for the Lap 105 restart. In preparing to take the green, his crew chief chimed in, “We’re having a really good day. Really, really good day. And they are not done wrecking.”
He held steady, even as the No. 31 of Parker Retzlaff slammed the wall. The race stayed green until Earnhardt had a drive shaft break.
During the caution, the No. 74 team broke down how the car was handling. Ultimately, they were hoping they could make it a little longer before pitting.
The next restart came with 87 to go and Cram was sitting P15. Once again, he chose the bottom lane on the restart. And what a restart it was. Allgaier fell from the lead to P15 in the opening lap, while Cram was sitting three-wide and fell to P18.
All stayed green, which was more than could be said for most of the race, and Cram settled in.
Caution for Cram
Unfortunately, Cram was the reason for the next caution with 81 to go. After banging doors with the No. 66 of Sage Karam, Cram went for a spin.
The crew chief atop the CHK Racing box calmed his driver, who was letting out his anger toward Karam, saying, “It is okay. We’re all learning.”
Cram pitted for tires and a once-over on his Chevrolet Camaro. He returned to track in P21 with 76 laps remaining and got a reminder that his tires were scuffs and would not feel good for the first get laps. He was told, “Just race yourself till the tires work themselves in.”
As the next 20 laps ticked by and Cram was not racing anyone, he was finally able to settle in and do some learning.
With 56 laps remaining, leader John Hunter Nemechek passed Cram to put him one lap down.
Locked in and continuing to learn, Cram was encouraged to give about five more clean laps as his pit window was about to open.
Lap 156 brought teams to pit road as green flag pit stop shuffling began. Before Cram took to his stall, the caution waved as the No. 44 of Daniel Dye spun in Turn 2.
Cram, who was sitting P14, down one lap, radioed in, “Well, that worked out!”
Final stretch
His spotter said, “This will be a very weird start. We need to let some of these cars go by or it’s going to be ugly. We’d be fourth row…just let all these guys go by.”
In doing so, Cram lined up P22, down one lap. “Leave yourself some room on the fire off,” his spotter said. “You could see a wreck…Race yourself and we can walk out of here with a top 22.”
As the leaders went three wide through the field, it looked like that wreck might happen. However, the race stayed green until 22 laps remained. This time, the caution was for debris on the track.
Cram was sitting P22, down two laps. He was told, “With this, you should be good. The leader shouldn’t get to you again.” His team kept him on track to restart P22 for the final 17 laps.
Immediately, the caution waved. This time, Kaz Grala and J.J. Yeley wrecked. With that, Cram was bumped to P20 to finish out the race, which had 10 laps remaining.
Trouble in Texas
Soon after the restart, Cram radioed in, “Something weird is happening. Like a brake caliper or something. It’s getting worse. Let me see if I can manage it.”
Cram was told, “They’re saying there is some smoke. If it gets bad, bring it in.”
He continued to limp his car around the track in an attempt to finish out the race.
With two to go, he was told to ‘run the apron’ and stay out of the way. His spotter said, “Something big happened in [Turns] 1 and 2.”
In response, his crew chief responded, “Don’t get hurt! Can you go around one more time?”
Ultimately, as the leader took the checkered flag, Cram limped his No. 74 home to a P21 finish.
Thank you. I felt like I was right there. Good to hear about those not in the limelight.
Thank you for always reading and chiming in, Linda!
Yes, Thanks…
For Update, Great Job…
Godspeed – Dawson…..
He had a great run! Thank you!
Well done! It’s so nice to see the drivers through the field being highlighted. I loved the behind the scenes commentary and the play by play action!
Thanks Kimberly! That was my hope with the series! Thanks for reading and commenting!