Fire Can't Smoke Sterling Out Of Another Top 10

HICKORY, North Carolina – October 24, 2015 -- Roddey Sterling, Jr. started 9th – just 18/1000 of a second off of the pole in the 200-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series "Fall Brawl" at historic Hickory Motor Speedway. Sterling -- down to one race car after last week's accident at Myrtle Beach -- needed to keep this car in race ready condition for the final CARS series race back at Hickory Motor Speedway this coming week.  As Sterling put it,  "The car needs to go back on the hauler the way it came off… in one piece."  Thus the rookie driver cautiously but aggressively advanced the MoonPie Ford into the 6th position during the first half of the 200-lap race.   

All was good, but not for long as Sterling reports flames in the cockpit of his #59 MoonPie Ford quickly maneuvering the car down onto the tracks apron exiting as NASCAR officials and on hand firemen converged. The fire apparently started from a faulty coil wire and was quickly contained followed by the Grissom Motorsport's Team resolving the problem but not without missing the permitted mid-race tire change.  Re-entering the race on the same tires, the rookie driver brought the #59 MoonPie Ford some 90 laps later under the checkered flag for his 7th top 10th finish of the season.

"I smelled something burning around the 50 lap mark…. it was weird as the car was running really well... I couldn't pin it down but at 83…. I could see from the right corner of my eye a flame.  We were doing great advancing the car while managing the risk…. but without the advantage of knowing the source of the problem… I had to error on the side of caution"
"As usual our team had the setup on the car tonight just right…considering….we didn't have time to put  new tires on after the first 100…..work inside the car got a lot harder on the last 100 …  at the end of the day we brought the MoonPie Ford home like she came and delivered our first top 10 here at Hickory so all and all…. a good night." 

Sterling, Jr. and the Grissom Motorsports team are setting their sights on the next event for #59 MoonPie Ford – this coming Sunday, November 1, CARS Tour 150-lap season finale "MTP Tire 300" at Hickory Motor Speedway.