Tyler Dippel, Rette Jones Racing Set For Rebound At New Hampshire

Story By: MARK RETTE / RETTE JONES RACING – LOUDON, NH – After an early race crash spoiled another prime opportunity for a strong NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (NKNPSE) finish last weekend at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, Tyler Dippel (@tyler_dippel) and Rette Jones Racing (RJR) trek to New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) determined to rebound in Saturday afternoon’s United Site Services 70.

Dippel returns to the track dubbed the Magic Mile hoping to spring some magic of his own aboard the No. 30 TYCAR Trenchless Technologies Ford Fusion in the ninth race of the season.

Last July, Dippel posted a solid top-10 finish, one of eight top-10 finishes in his rookie season of K&N competition.

Fast forward 12 months later, the Wallkill, New York native is hoping that his prior experience at the 1.0-mile track will reward him with his third top-10 of 2017.

“I’m ready to go to New Hampshire this weekend,” said Dippel, a development driver for Rette Jones Racing. “It’s a bummer that we had an issue at Thompson last weekend. I thought we were really going to have another good run. But, that’s racing.

“Looking ahead, I feel pretty good that our Rette Jones Racing team can post a solid rebound at a track where I had a good run last year. New Hampshire is pretty flat, but the one thing I learned last year is that you have to be able to carry speed off the corners and carry it on the straightaways, especially out of Turn 4.”

Hoping to start his second half of the K&N East season on the right foot, Dippel knows that Saturday’s race is a short 70 laps, which means he’ll have to fight to get to the front and stay there as laps go by in a hurry.

“The race is 70 laps, which means we could be done in less than an hour,” explained Dippel. “We’ll probably have the opportunity to get our No. 30 TYCAR Trenchless Technologies Ford Fusion handling the best with just one pit stop. I know that my team had an extremely fast car last year and I expect that to be the case again during practice, qualifying and the race this weekend.”

Rette will bring chassis No. 005 to New Hampshire this weekend. This automobile is the same piece that Dippel ran in the first race at South Boston (Va.) Speedway in May before being involved in an early race altercation.

Fixed and ready to resume action, Dippel hopes to deliver Rette Jones Racing their first career K&N victory and his second after winning at Mobile International Speedway, 20 races ago.

“A win would really give us a great boost,” said Dippel. “This second half of the season, we aren’t so worried about the championship as much as we’re focused on going out there and posting strong finishes. We know that if we can put up some good race results, the points will tally and we’ll see where we fall come Dover in late September.”

Rette says Dippel’s experience at New Hampshire should pay huge dividends Saturday.

“I wouldn’t want another driver behind the wheel of our cars other than Tyler,” said Rette. “He’s attitude through the ups and downs this season has been a huge inspiration for all of us. We had another good car at Thompson – just the wrong result.

“We’re focused though on New Hampshire. We’re pretty content with our setup and I think it could put us in a position to be really fast on Saturday.

“Like Tyler said it’s a quick race. We just need to get Tyler comfortable with the setup and then just make sure he’s quick and happy during the race so he can put on a show and hopefully bring home the checkered flag.”

For New Hampshire, RJR welcomes the support of Makris Lobster & Steak House who will serve as an associate marketing partner for Saturday evening’s race.

Through eight races this season, Dippel sits ninth in the championship standings, 102 points behind leader Harrison Burton.

In 22 career NASCAR K&N Pro Series East starts, Dippel, 17, has earned one victory (Mobile Speedway, 2016), achieved two top-five and 10 top-10 finishes. The teenager has also 139 laps led in event competition.

The United Site Services 70 (70 laps / 70 miles) is the ninth of 14 races on the 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East schedule. Practice begins for the two-day show on Fri., July 14 from 4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. A final practice has been etched in from 6:00 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. Group qualifying is set for a short time later at 7:05 p.m. The race will take the green flag just after 6:45 p.m. the following evening, Sat., July 15. The event will be televised on a tape-delayed basis on NBC Sports Network with an air date on Thurs., July 20 at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Meet Tyler: Dippel will meet and greet race fans during the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East autograph session on Sat., July 15 at 1:00 p.m. in the Fan Zone at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.