Jason White was looking forward to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series AAA Insurance 200 at O'Reilly Raceway Park, and when the dust settled at the end of an exciting night of short track racing, the driver had his ninth top-15 of the season for hometown sponsor ASI Limited.
In the late afternoon qualifying session, White posted a best lap of 23.24 seconds at over 106 mph, giving him the 24th starting position for the race.
White would not stay there long as he began to charge through the field at the drop of the green reaching 21st on lap five and 20th on lap 10 when the race's first caution flew. When racing resumed, the No. 23 ASI Limited Dodge RAM was on a mission reaching the top 15 by lap 30 of the 200-lap race.
White stayed on the gas and moved to up to 12th when the second caution flew for debris on lap 85. The SS Green Light team changed four tires and sent White back to the 5/8-mile track. The caution flew on lap 120 and crew chief Doug Howe called White to the pit for his final set of sticker tires to finish the event.
On lap 133, White made a bold three-wide move to reach the top 10, and the ASI Limited No. 23 looked ready for a strong run to the finish.
The race took on a new look when the caution flew for the fifth and final time on lap 142. With only 15 laps on the tires and no stickers left to bolt on, Howe opted to keep White on the track hoping the track position would help the team earn another top-10 finish. Timothy Peters also stayed on the track so White restarted in second place. About 10 of the lead-lap trucks were on a different strategy pitted for fresh tires and started behind the pair.
When racing resumed, White kept the ASI Limited Dodge RAM in the top five for several laps before the trucks with fresher tires worked there way around White and Peters. Over the last 50 laps, the handling slowly went away, with White taking the checkered in 13th place, his eighth lead-lap finish of the 2010 NCWTS season.
SS Green Light Racing Manager Bobby Dotter was satisfied with the team's day at the Indianapolis short track.
"We were hoping Jason could hold on for a top-10, feeling the track position would payoff on the last run. We didn't have another set of stickers and the best set we had in the pits only had five less laps than what was on the truck. It just didn't make much sense to give up track position at that point in the race."
White's ninth top-15 in 12 races this season helped to keep him 10th in NCWTS point standings, 338 behind leader Todd Bodine.
