SPEEDWAY, Ind. — From the short track of Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday night (July 19) to the big, rectangular, historic track of Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday (July 20), Daniel Dye had two completely different races.
A 27th-place finish in the Craftsman Truck Series race at IRP put Dye, who runs full-time in that series, in a hole heading into the final race before the playoffs at Richmond Raceway. Currently battling for a playoffs spot, Dye now finds himself on the outside looking in heading into Richmond.
On Saturday, Dye competed in the Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis, running his seventh of 10 scheduled races with Kaulig Racing in a part-time fourth car.
Dye only managed a 22nd-place qualifying effort, then finished just 18th and 19th in the first two stages, respectively.
Dye was running around the same in the final stage, and was only able to hang around the end of the top 15 with less than 20 laps to go. Soon, Dye found himself in a battle with the No. 5 of Anthony Alfredo with 17 laps to go.
As Dye moved to the inside to make a pass in turn 1, his No. 10 washed up into Alfredo, putting the latter into the outside wall. Dye made an otherworldly save to keep his No. 10 from spinning out, but was forced to use the pit exit apron in turn 2 in order to stay out of more trouble.
Alfredo wasn’t as lucky. The contact with the wall cut his right front tire, forcing him into the wall again in turn 2. Alfredo believed that contact broke something in the steering, as his car began sliding down the track in front of oncoming traffic.
“I tried slowing down and when I hit the brake, it just pulled harder left,” Alfredo said after leaving the care center.
Most everyone was able to avoid him, but Parker Retzlaff, traveling close behind Kyle Sieg, couldn’t see Alfredo until the last second when Sieg ducked low to avoid. As a result, Retzlaff piledrove the No. 5, destroying both cars. Josh Williams was also following close behind Retzlaff, running directly into the back of the No. 31 and totaling his car as well.
Alfredo was upset that Dye’s contact caused him to be the reason for the crash and destroy three race cars.
“Now I’m the guy that took two cars out by shooting down the track like that because I got put in the fence off of [turn] 1,” Alfredo said. “So obviously I’m embarrassed and feel horrible for those guys, but if I could’ve done anything different, I…
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