Dean Thompson has really started to hit his stride driving in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with Sam Hunt Racing. The driver of the No. 26 Toyota GR Supra has had a consistent rookie season, and that continued with a solid 10th-place result at Bristol Motor Speedway, the season’s ninth race.
After climbing from his car, Thompson was disappointed to not walk out of Bristol with a top-five finish, but he was thankful to continue building positive momentum.
“I felt like we could have got[ten] a top-five out of it, just unfortunate how it ended. But glad to get a top-10,” Thompson said in a post-race interview with Frontstretch.
Overall, it was a double top-10 effort for the Sam Hunt Racing team, which also saw Corey Heim collect an eighth-place finish in the team’s part-time No. 24 Toyota GR Supra. Thompson, who served as a teammate of Heim’s over the last couple of seasons at TRICON Garage in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ranks says that Heim is great to bounce ideas off of, and he regards him as one of the best drivers in the sport, currently.
With his third top-10 run of the season, Thompson has improved to 18th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship standings, and he’s within earshot of working his way inside of the top-15. The 23-year-old feels if he and his No. 26 team keep the wheels turning, even better things should be on the horizon.
“Just what we’ve been working on, don’t change anything. I feel like my guys have been working their tails off, I’ve been working my tail off,” Thompson said. “Just keeping our heads down and not being too funny. I think we’ve got a good car, and a good team, and just keep doing what we’ve been doing. We’re going to keep cranking out top-10s, and hopefully, top-fives soon.”
While it was another good finish, Thompson did make one error on the day, which resulted in the biggest highlight of the race, which was dominated by Kyle Larson. On Lap 75, Thompson nudged Sheldon Creed in Turn 4, which sent Creed spinning from the 15th position.
Creed would be slammed into by Brennan Poole moments later in a spectacular crash.
Video: Sheldon Creed, Brennan Poole Collected in Nasty Crash at Bristol
Thompson could have let that moment weigh on him all race long, but instead, he pressed on and had a mistake-free remainder of the event, and he notched another solid result. Thomas has just one DNF this season, which was the result of a crash at Phoenix Raceway, and after Saturday’s race at Bristol, he’s up to five top-15 finishes through the opening nine races of the season.
Sam Hunt, who owns the Sam Hunt Racing organization, feels Thompson is proving a lot of people, who felt the driver wasn’t the right choice for the No. 26 car in the offseason, wrong. And Hunt is happy with Thompson’s performance this year.
“I think what’s so fun for me is just watching Dean mature as a racecar driver,” Hunt explained. “You know, I think there’s a lot of skeptics out there that don’t really know Dean, but he’s been driving like a veteran here the last month really. He’s taking care of equipment, he’s not crashing, like he’s really making me a proud car owner, and I’m glad he’s in our car.”
In a highly-concentrated NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year battle, Thompson is holding his own against some of the bright, up-and-coming stars in the sport including Connor Zilisch, Carson Kvapil, Daniel Dye, Christian Eckes, Nick Sanchez, Taylor Gray, and William Sawalich.
