NORTH HIGHLANDS, California — After a summer laden with bad-luck, Rob Dixon’s RTD Motorsports and driver Mike Gallegos of Wheat Ride, Colo. answered back with a tenth place finish at Altamont Raceway Park on Saturday.
Gallegos ran as high as sixth in the “Golden State Steel & Stair 200” at the fast half-mile asphalt oval. The finish marked his sixth top-ten of the year, and moved him up to 12th in the NASCAR Camping World Series West standings.
“It was kinda frusterating because I thought we were better than tenth,” Gallegos said. “But we got to just keep doing what we’re doing.”
After practicing in the top-fifteen, Gallegos qualified 16th.
In the first 100 laps, Gallegos battled it out hard for a top-ten spot before the halfway break.
Coming out of the break, Gallegos charged all the way up to sixth place, capitalizing on misfortunes for several of the top running cars.
Unfortunately, contact from Jason Patison sent Gallegos and the RTD Motorsports / Performance Electrical Chevrolet for a spin.
When Gallegos gathered the car up, the race had remained green. Under green flag conditions, Gallegos was able to dig in and gather up several seconds of lost ground and move back into the top-ten.
“It shows the strength of the car,” Gallegos said. “We had a top-five car and I kind of used all our stuff up trying to stay on the lead lap. We stuck with David Mayhew and worked together to pass some cars.”
Gallegos ended up being passed by points leader Eric Holmes and settled for a solid tenth place showing.
Now the RTD Motorsports team will set its sights on All American Speedway in Roseville, Calif., the team’s home track and the finale for the NASCAR Camping World Series West.
Gallegos has announced intentions to return to the team next year, so a big run on October 25th in Roseville would get next season off on the right foot.
“We need some momentum swinging our way going into next year,” Gallegos said.
