Xfinity Chase Contender Koch Hits Wall in Practice, Goes to Backup

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief

FORT WORTH, Texas – Blake Koch’s championship hopes took a hit Friday afternoon at the start of opening practice for Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway.

The 31-year-old Florida native was on his first lap at the 1.5-mile oval when the car veered right and hit the Turn 2 wall and severely damaging his No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet.

“Something broke on the car,” Kock said about the incident.

The damage was enough to warrant the team to bring out the backup car, which was run at Chicagoland a few races ago, as the team failed to get back out and record a lap during the session.

“We already got the backup out. We raced it not too long ago so I know it’s a good car. It had three weeks off to set it up so I’m confident it’ll still be a good weekend for us.”

Koch sits third in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship, seven points behind the tied points leaders of Elliott Sadler and Daniel Suarez.

About Joey Barnes 600 Articles
Joey Barnes is the Founder of Motorsports Tribune, an outlet that began with the goal of helping aspiring journalists break into and grow the industry. A regular on the racing scene since 2013, the journey for Joey started by covering a Grand-Am event at Circuit of The Americas in his home state of Texas. He has since primarily focused on the IndyCar Series, with appearances in the garages of NASCAR, paddocks of Formula 1, IMSA and World Endurance Championship, while also occasionally engulfing clouds of dust at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals and select Supercross rounds. With previous stops at Autoweek, IndyCar.com, Motorsport.com and RACER, among others, Joey evolved from the singular task as a freelance writer to advanced roles behind the copy desk and alongside some of the best editorial teams in the business. Recognized as a multi-time award winner by the National Motorsports Press Association, Joey currently resides in Dallas-Fort Worth with his trusty four-legged canine companion, Rocket.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.