Trenton Estep Leads Flag-to-Flag in Series Debut
UNOFFICIAL DH CLASS TOP-FIVE FINISHERS:
- Trenton Estep – No. 16 MDK Motorsports LLC
- Robert Noaker – No. 13 Robert Noaker Racing
- Tyler Maxson – No. 74 Robert Noaker Racing
- Jeremy Fletcher – No. 22 McCumbee McAleer Racing
- Reid Sweeney – No. 31 Robert Noaker Racing
UNOFFICIAL DHL CLASS TOP-FIVE FINISHERS:
- Zachry Lee – No. 48 McCumbee McAleer Racing
- Alex Bachoura – No. 33 Spark Performance
- Mike Stillwagon – No. 19 Skip Barber Racing
- Stephen Vajda – No. 10 NV Autosport
- Nicholas Smither – No. 58 Nick Smither Racing
TRENTON ESTEP, No. 16 MDK Motorsports LLC Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DH) – “It feels good, especially to do it in front of my hometown crowd here in Texas. It was good flag-to-flag. This was my first time on a new tire with heavy fuel. Having not raced this car, it was also my longest stint in it. It handled well and we performed well as a team – especially at the end, when I expected that we’d have a little bit more fall-off. The Dark Horse R was awesome, and everyone at MDK Motorsports gave me a good car. I had a great platform to learn this weekend.”
ROBERT NOAKER, No. 13 Robert Noaker Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DH) – “These Dark Horse R cars are heavy horsepower, but they still race close. It’s rare to have high top-speed cars still pack racing. It’s always important to try and check-out from the field, wherever you are in the top-five, to try and get away from the mess behind you. We know our cars are good on the long-run. We still didn’t have enough green flag to show what we could do in the end. You can’t win them all. I can’t thank the team and Red Line Oil enough. We were able to show our pace every session, which is really special.”
TYLER MAXSON, No. 74 Robert Noaker Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DH) – “It’s still a close points battle, so we need to keep executing. The team is doing a great job and doing that every weekend. We have extremely fast race cars every single week. I think we do have really good long-run, but we just haven’t been able to show it yet. I still think we have something in the bag for when we can get a really long race. I just can’t thank the team enough for showing up with these really fast race cars every weekend. We’ll just keep ticking on.”
ZACHRY LEE, No. 48 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DHL) – “I’ve been at this track since it’s been open, and this win was very special. I need to do some math tonight. I don’t think it would necessarily change how I drive, but if all I need to do is start to win the Legends championship, then I’d like to try and move up the DH class field. I think I’m pretty close to that pace.”
ALEX BACHOURA, No. 33 Spark Performance Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DHL) – “The race was great. I was managing the temperature, and then when I decided to just go for it, I got spun in the back section. I made it back up to the front with the yellows and ended up second. I’m pretty happy about that. Spark Performance gave me a really good car.”
MIKE STILLWAGON, No. 19 Skip Barber Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DHL) – “This was not an easy one. This is a fast, technical and rhythmic track that demands 100 percent of your focus. I teach a lot of drivers at this race track – about 80 NASCAR drivers up to this point. I had a good starting position, got to the inside of Turn 1 and someone pile-drove me at the apex – dead last at a dead stop. I fought my way back up to second, and then I just had a bad jump on the final restart. I want to thank my Skip Barber crew, which worked so hard in getting the car how I like it. It performed awesome in the sessions leading up to the race. It’s an emotional third place that should have been a first. End of story.”
Frankie Muniz, who made his Mustang Challenge debut in the Dark Horse class, gave his thoughts about the race, Dark Horse R and more. Muniz placed 10th in his debut.
FRANKIE MUNIZ, No. 3 Spark Performance Ford Mustang Dark Horse R (DH) – “Ever since I was lucky enough to drive the first Dark Horse R out for the launch of this series, I’ve been begging for Ford to give me a shot in it. It has looked like such a fun series because the racing is tight and there are so many good drivers in the field. I saw that first-hand. These drivers are really good at what they do.
“I couldn’t believe the power and grip of the Dark Horse R. For a spec-series, this is where you should come and race. I can’t thank Ford Performance enough for allowing me, a NASCAR driver, to come out and run a sports car race. I’m forever grateful, and I hope I get to do more.”