What a performance for Joey Gase in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway. The driver of the No. 35 Emerling-Gase Motorsports machine came home in ninth-place to score his first top 10 finish in the series since the 2017 season.
While the box score top 10 was already impressive enough for the underdog racer, when you factor in the adversity that Gase went through to accomplish the ninth-place run, you will be absolutely stunned.
Late in the event, it looked like Gase’s race was over prematurely as a fire broke out on the left rear wheel of his No. 35 machine.
Here is a video of the wild scene from the No. 35 pit box on Saturday:
From ??? to P9. Inhaled a bunch of smoke,tried to stay in as long as I could but could not take the smoke any longer.Big thanks to #NASCAR for letting me get back in and bring her home . We could not have done this with out our partners! @LOPA_org @1eternalfan @EG_Motorsports pic.twitter.com/TIpGLAiSyB
— Joey Gase Racing (@JoeyGaseRacing) April 23, 2023
Incredibly, a fire safety worker was able to extinguish the flames, and Gase was able to shake off the effects of inhaling the fire-suppressant chemicals to return to the race.
As Gase did for the majority of the race, he steered clear of the chaos on the final lap of the race and found himself inside the top 10 when the checkered flag flew.
This finish marks the fourth top 10 finish of Gase’s 267-race NASCAR Xfinity Series career, and it is the first-ever top 10 finish for the Emerling-Gase Motorsports team, which Gase founded a season ago with NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour star Patrick Emerling.
Before Saturday’s ninth-place effort, Gase had a best finish of 17th in his own equipment, which came at Talladega Superspeedway last fall.
