Area resident and 5th ranked NASCAR World Truck Series driver Chad McCumbee finished 6th on March 7th at the Atlanta Motor Speedway and 3rd last month in the San Bernardino County 200! Fans will be interested in this story about an Ocean Isle Beach sponsor enabling this World Truck Series Driver Chad McCumbee to race in West.
After beginning the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series campaign with a tough 19th-place finish at the season opener at Daytona, Chad McCumbee headed west to Auto Club Speedway, a fast two-mile D-shaped oval located just east of Los Angeles.
Most importantly, McCumbee was just happy to be heading to the race that was not originally on the team’s 2009 Schedule. Sponsorship from TheGPSStore.com, based at Ocean Isle Beach, and Garmin allowed the team to compete in the San Bernardino County 200.
This was the first race of the 2009 season on an intermediate speedway, tracks that are a mile and a half to two miles in length. McCumbee has excelled at the intermediate tracks throughout his NCWTS career with 10 of his 12 top-10 finishes coming on at intermediate speedways, including a ninth-place finish at Michigan, a sister track to California.
“I don’t really know why, but I have always felt very comfortable at the speedways,” he said. “I guess all the go-cart racing I did when I was younger got me used to the speeds we run at these tracks.”
With the help of TheGPSStore.com and Garmin, McCumbee and the SS Green Light Racing team are now competing in the first five events of the 2009 NCWTS season.
“I’m really grateful of TheGPSStore.com and Garmin to step up and help us out this weekend,” McCumbee said. “When Bobby, Ken and I first started talking about this season, we weren’t sure if we would be able to make the trip out to California. TheGPSStore.com has made it possible. They have supported me in the past and I can’t thank them enough for helping us out this year.”
Team co-owner Bobby Dotter is looking forward to the trip to California.
•This was McCumbee’s 73rd NCWTS start, and 81st NASCAR start.
•McCumbee has competed at Auto Club Speedway in the NCWTS on three previous occasions, with a best finish of 18th in the San Bernardino County 200 last year.
“I really like running at California,” McCumbee said. “It’s fast, flat and wide. There are several lines you can drive, but the key to going fast is to have a balanced truck. If you don’t have the balance right on the nose and tail, these trucks can be a real handful to drive at the speeds we run there. If you get it right, you can really carry good speed around the corners. If the truck is too loose or tight, it can be a long day.”
TheGPSStore.com is one of the top sellers of GPS devices in the country with great online pricing for Garmin, Magellan, TomTom and other top brands.