After securing his career-best starting position, rookie Kyle Krisiloff was optimistic in also claiming a season-high finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at The Milwaukee Mile Friday night. However, a flat tire with 50 laps remaining forced Krisiloff and the No. 15 Billy Ballew Motorsports Chevy to pit road, losing two laps in the process and a chance for a career-best finish. Krisiloff was strong at the end, but was only able to take home 29th place honors.

Both practice sessions saw the No. 15 Silverado sitting in the top-20 on the sheet. It looked like the luck had finally turned around for the team. Krisiloff was comfortable with the truck, just noted it was a little tight during the sessions, and the track, as he has had numerous laps around the one-mile track. Krisiloff had the unfortunate luck of qualifying fourth of the 38 trucks to take time. His lap time of 29.841 secs. placed the No. 15 Billy Ballew Motorsports Chevy in the 11th spot, his career-best. Krisiloff’s previous highest start was 18th place at Martinsville Speedway in April.

Cautions were aplenty on Friday night and the field saw the second one come out on lap 37. Krisiloff had dropped to 25th position and was complaining of being loose going in the corners, tight center and off. Crew chief Buddy Barnes called for an air pressure adjustment and for the pit crew to pull a spring rubber out of the left rear of the truck. When they continued under green, Krisiloff noted that the changes hadn’t worked effectively and he was still tight everywhere. He dropped to one lap down on lap 68, while running in 32nd position.

When the third caution came on lap 77, Krisiloff brought the No. 15 back down pit road for four tires with an air pressure adjustment, fuel and three rounds down on the right rear spring to help free him up. The changes and tires worked magically, as Krisiloff was able to run with the leaders and maintain his position of being the first truck one lap down when the fifth caution waved on lap 91. It was way too early for another set of tires, so Barnes called for fuel only on that pit stop after receiving the “lucky dog” award and regaining their lost lap. Krisiloff restarted in 27th position. Another caution quickly followed which moved Krisiloff up to 23rd place. The seventh caution came out on lap 115 and Krisiloff radioed in that “it’s perfect than goes six (rating scale) tight. We’re really good on fresh tires.” Once again, Krisiloff pitted for gas and a minor spring adjustment.

The No. 15 restarted in 17th place on lap 119. Being alert paid off for Krisiloff as he had a good run on the outside of some trucks and was able to gain four positions on the track when the next caution came out just two laps after the restart. After that, Krisiloff slowly faded off as the tires started to wear out with the right front finally deciding to give way on lap 150 after going one lap down on lap 146. Krisiloff brought the machine down pit road for four fresh tires, but lost two laps under green flag conditions. The No. 15 was now three laps down to the leaders and sitting in 29th position. For the remainder of the race, Krisiloff was able to run up front with the leaders. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for position and he completed the event in 29th place.

“It was a positive weekend for the No. 15 Billy Ballew Motorsports team, “said Krisiloff. “It was nice to come to a race track and have good times during practice and get a good qualifying position. After qualifying in 11th, I thought we were going to have a truck that could race inside the top-10, but for some reason we were wearing out tires twice as much as everyone else. We had tires that could run up front with the leaders, but after halfway I had a right front tire go down to the cords and lose all its tread. Not only did we lose a bunch of time to the leaders, but i had to pit under green and I lost two laps. There were times throughout the race that I think we showed good speed, but we just did not have a consistent truck today. Buddy Barnes and everyone worked so hard. It’s beginning to show. It’s just a matter of time and we’ll be a constant threat.”