GLADEVILLE, TN - Morgan Shepherd and his Faith Motorsports crew enjoyed its first Top 20 finish in nearly two months after posting a 17th place run in the Federated Auto Parts 300 Saturday night at Nashville.
Coming off an improved 22nd place finish at Dover the week before, Shepherd drove his #89 Racing With Jesus Impala to its third Top 20 finish of the season, despite having trouble on the track and in the pits.
"We really had a Top 10 car and we were playing fuel strategy to try to stay up front and we ran out of gas as we were coming to pit road," Shepherd said.
In addition to losing time on the track as the team fueled and changed tires, NASCAR penalized Shepherd after a crew member failed to secure a loose tire during the stop.
"We ended up going down three laps as a result of the green flag stop and the penalty so that really hurt us," Shepherd said. "We were thankful to have had a good points night and finish in the Top 20, but it is disappointing to know that we should have had so much more.
Shepherd said he plans to run the same Robert Yates chassis this weekend at Kentucky Speedway, a track which has produced horrible results for the team in the past.
Last summer, the team lost a crankshaft at the start of the race and Shepherd crashed out early in the summer 2007 event at Kentucky.
Entering the Kentucky weekend, the Faith Motorsports team is 28 points out of the Top 30 in owner's points meaning it must again qualify on time.
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