BRL Stone River Shootout Recap

by Ryan Senneker
25 Sept 2021
Bootleg Racing League
Stone River Shootout | Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway

Mathew Thunhorst claimed the checkered flag for the 6th Annual Stone River Shootout with the Bootleg Racing League becoming the 5th different winner of this special 200 lap race event followed by Justin Morton, and J R Shepherd. Securing the pole with a qualifying time of 19.038, Thunhorst was consistently the quickest driver around the track all night.

Talking about his pit strategy, Thunhorst shared, “Justin (Morton) worked the numbers before the race and we found out what we needed on fuel. So I just decided to bite the bullet up front and it was just generally because the fact that fuel goes in really quick here and tires seem to take an eternity compared to that so I just tried to save the tires for late in the run.”

Kenny Kibbey held more than a 5 second lead over Thunhorst for 64 laps after having the quickest pit stop on lap 64 at 11.7 seconds. Taking his 2nd pit stop early, compared to the rest of the lead lap drivers, Kibbey tried to gain a strategic advantage by pitting on lap 128 and giving up the race lead for the moment. However, a caution on lap 146 sabotaged his chances to regain the lead later in the race and giving the rest of the pack a safe pit opportunity. Kibbey finished 5th overall.