Near-win leaves stinging feeling

daytona beach, fla.» e sure had a roller-coaster Daytona 500. Since our position might have appeared to be bleak early in Sunday’s race, we kept fighting to the end with a damaged race car that was a handful to drive.

Our No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Toyota took the lead with two laps to go. I then got passed, and to make matters worse, I ran out of fuel on the final lap and fell back to finish a disappointing 13th.

We did what we wanted to do, and that was to put ourselves in position to have a shot at winning this race. We came close but didn’t get it done in the end. But considering where we came from and the accidents we avoided, it was a good effort that should have had a better finish.

We had a strategy early in the race, and we did get up front to lead a couple of laps. But we had an issue with a pit stop just before the Lap 60 mark. A lug nut flew behind the wheel, and

Wwe had to come back to pit road for another tire change. We went down a lap shortly after and didn’t get back on the lead lap until Lap 120. Our car suffered rightfront damage during a multicar wreck on Lap 128. Our Furniture Row Racing crew did the best they could under a time limit to make repairs, but from that point on the car was challenging to drive.

But we kept battling back and moved into second place with 20 laps remaining. We held that position until we took the lead with two to go.

I am disappointed right now, but I guess it could have been better and could have been worse. But when you’re so close, as we were last year with a runner-up finish, there’s a stinging feeling. I am sure it will pass and we’ll get ready for next week’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.