‘Young rookie has impressive run despite outcome’

Brian Ickler piloting the No. 15 Samsung Instinct Toyota Tundra looked to have his second top-10 finish in his third NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start until a spin sent him into the wall ending his day early at Dover International Speedway Saturday afternoon.

Ickler took to the track for the running of the rain delayed AAA Insurance 200 race Saturday afternoon in the 9th-place position on the starting grid after posting a time of 23.515 seconds at a rate of speed of 153.094 miles per hour in NASCAR Truck Series qualifying.

Ickler had been fast in both practices and qualifying continued the streak right into the 200 lap, 200 mile race on the Monster Mile running times as fast as the leader, his Billy Ballew Motorsports teammate, Kyle Busch. The young driver in his second appearance at the Dover, Delaware race track, his first in a NASCAR Camping World Truck, used skill to navigate the high banked, fast one-mile race track. He used his instincts to find the grooves and negotiate the corners on the concrete surface advancing to the fourth place position by lap 41.

A competition caution on lap 45 shuffled the running order up putting him in the 15th-place position for the restart on lap 51. Again, Ickler advanced, moving into the 9th-place position but was battling a loose race truck dropping back to the 10th-place position on lap 62. Unfortunately, Ickler’s luck would run out when the No. 51 Samsung Instinct Tundra snapped loose on lap 65 ending his day and sending the Billy Ballew Motorsports team home with a 25th-place finish.

“We’ve been struggling loose the whole race and it’s my fault, just lost it off of Turn 4,” Brian Ickler said. “We’re trying to keep Samsung Instinct on board with us and that’s not the way we want to do it. We’ve just been free from the get go today. We had a pretty good truck and we’d get through traffic pretty decent. Just corded the right rear really bad there on the first run and tried to tighten it up a little more and just lost it up off of four and ruined our day there.”

Ickler will return to the No. 51 Miccosukee Resort Tundra at Texas Motor Speedway next weekend with Aric Almirola slated to drive the No. 15 Samsung Instinct Billy Ballew Motorsports entry.