Roulette Recap follows a randomly selected driver throughout a race and recaps their efforts. The driver could face calamity on lap one or start from the rear and win the race – there is no telling ahead of time. With that, may the odds be ever in the driver’s favor.
Contender Boats 300
Since racing at Nashville Superspeedway, Mason Massey has added three more NASCAR Xfinity Series starts to the 2023 season. Within that, he collected a top 10 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and has compiled an average finish of 20.5.
For his fifth start of the season, he sat P39 in practice and qualified P35. He shared his confidence in his car and SS Green Light Racing team on social media:
Well.. super super loose in practice and qualifying. We were good on the longer run though. We’ll get her tuned up for the race tomorrow and go to the front. We’re here for the 200 lap race not the 1 lap race @SSGLR0708 👊🏻
— Mason Massey (@Mason_Massey) October 20, 2023
Massey thanked his team coming to the green flag, noting how much he enjoys working with the team.
Stage 1
Massey lost a couple of positions when the green flag waved, but then it was all eyes forward. By Lap 7, Massey had regained his starting position and was working on Turns 3 and 4.
Fortunately, with two seconds between his No. 08 and the cars ahead of and behind him, he had ample opportunity to work on learning the track. Unfortunately, about halfway through the stage, he was lapped by the leaders.
On Lap 30, he told crew chief Jason Miller, “I want to stick it in the corners but it wants to spin out on me.”
As Ryan Newman took to the pits and ultimately exited the race, Massey gained a position. However, the remainder of the stage stayed quiet with no more ground gained, or lost, for the Douglasville, Georgia native. He finished the stage P34, down a lap, and radioed updates to his team.
“It’s almost undrivable,” he said. “I am tight in the corners, and then loose off. I’ll go in super free but the next corner is super tight. Every time I touch the gas, I’m like, am I going 15 feet up the track or am I going to spin out?”
After hearing about the issues, Miller responded, “In practice, we fought one thing. We need to get back to fighting one thing, and one thing only.”
Stage 2
Massey came to his crew for fresh tires, fuel, and a round of adjustments and returned to the track in P33.
Fourteen laps into Stage 2, Massey was asked if the changes made any improvement. Dejectedly, he said, “I can’t tell a difference.” He was running P34, still down a lap, but still hustling.
The next caution came on Lap 68 as the No. 74 of Dawson Cram blew, and lost, a tire. Massey radioed in, “He didn’t hit me. But his tire did!” He was was sitting P33 but Miller wanted Massey to come to the pits for fresh tires and adjustments. He did so and returned to the track P32 for the Lap 73 restart.
It was another quiet stage end, and Massey brought it to the green-white-checkered in P33.
Massey updated Miller on the car saying, “It was a little better with each adjustment. I need help with rotation on entrance to the center. I can’t run as close to the wall as I want. It’s okay off, though.”
He also asked for an ice pack as temperatures neared 90 degrees in south Florida.
Stage 3
After missing his pit stall, Massey made his stop and returned to the track in P34 to start the final stage. Before the opening lap could be completed, numerous drivers crashed, bringing out the caution. This allowed Massey to move up to P31.
Unfortunately, he was unable to take the wave around, but would keep fighting in the final 97 laps. Specifically, he would be fighting with Anthony Alfredo for the Lucky Dog.
He fell to P32 on a chaotic restart, but as the run ran long, he was able to settle in and hit his marks. He started to make some of his best lap times of the race with about 88 to go.
Three laps later, Massey noted he just could not get into the gas like the drivers ahead of him. He held steady in P31, down one lap, awaiting word from Miller to pit.
With about 73 laps remaining, Massey was lapped again. However, about 10 laps later, it was finally time to pit for fresh tires and fuel.
While Massey pitted with others, he returned to the track P33, down two laps with 61 to go. As other drivers took to the pits, he gained two positions.
With 54 to go, he hit P30. That’s where he would stay until the series of ̶u̶n̶fortunate events occurred.
Cautions Breed Cautions
First, the No. 00 of Cole Custer got into the wall and blew a tire and then was assessed with a penalty. Then, Justin Allgaier hit pit road. Shortly after, Connor Mosack was slow as he lost a cylinder. After all of this played into Massey’s favor, he was finally sitting outside the top 30 in P29.
He gained one more spot and then the caution waved due to a rogue tire on pit road.
Massey radioed in with an update – he still needed more turn. “We’re just getting murdered.”
The original plan was to bring Massey in, but then Miller said, “I think we need to take the wave around and pray for a caution.” However, after race leader Sheldon Creed stayed out, the No. 08 team was forced to pit.
Massey took the green with 30 to go from P28, two laps down. Miller said, “Let ’em spread out and then start picking them off. You have much better tires than some of those guys.”
After Creed sent the restart three- and four-wide, it seemed things would settle out. However, Josh Berry got into the wall, thanks to teammate, and boss, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and brought out the caution.
Restarting from P27, Massey’s team was the only car two laps down. The plan was to drop back, avoid the carnage, and go back to picking off cars.
Drivers took the green with 23 to go and it was a clean restart despite some major shuffling and door banging.
As the previous two stages had been, it was a quiet finish to the end of the race. Massey was unable to make anymore ground, but brought home his No. 08 Ford Mustang P27 unscathed – except for some tire marks, thanks to Cram.
Miller told Massey, “Good job! I just unhooked the front too much.”
Massey thanked his team and said, “You’ll have days like that.”
Pre-Race Spotlight
Pre-race, Massey received some extra attention from the broadcast team. Dave Burns spoke with Massey about living with stuttering and how he has used this as an opportunity to speak with others about chasing their dreams.
'@Mason_Massey has stuttered his entire life, but he has not let that take away from his dream.
In fact, he inspires others to chase theirs. pic.twitter.com/n1gsChKPyT
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 21, 2023
Following the race, Massey took to social media to give some insight on his day, as well as thank NASCAR and NBC for allowing him to share his story, and show appreciation for the support from fans.
Truly appreciate all the positivity and support from everyone… Means the world to me. And thank you to @NASCAR and @NASCARonNBC for allowing me to tell my story. pic.twitter.com/daG6cEY1Bc
— Mason Massey (@Mason_Massey) October 21, 2023
Sponsor Shoutout
As NASCAR fans know, sponsors make the sport go ’round. We want to give a shoutout to Anderson Power Services and Generac who was a huge part of the weekend for Mason and the No. 08 team.
Be sure to give Mason Massey (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and SS Green Light Racing (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) a follow to keep up with the latest news from the driver and team.
