Jeff Fultz, plain and simple, is a racer. It doesn't matter where or when, if he can get behind the wheel, he will. Some days, Fultz has a strong car and it shows in the final results. On other days, he can take a car that is not handling perfectly to a quality finish, like he did on Saturday April 14th. Fultz wheeled Curtis Venable's #67 in the season-opening USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series Northern Division to a 10th-place finish.
Fultz had to start at the rear of the field after a disappointing qualifying effort with an ill-handling racecar. The car was just recently acquired by the Venable team, so Fultz and the rest of the organization did not have much of a chance to go through the car with their usual fine-toothed combs. Despite not having the most fun-to-drive racecars, Fultz was still able to secure a top-10.
"This was kind of a last-minute deal," said Fultz. "We got a car together and I had a good bunch of guys here helping out. We just have to work to get a little more prepared car-wise. We had a lot of issues, but we were fortunate to get into the race and we did the best we could.
"Once I got the bottom groove in, I could pass a bunch of people down there. Me and Woody (Howard) were racing there three wide and I got all the way up to fifth, but it got wet down on the bottom and I lost a bunch of spots. We ended up with 10th, but we just needed to run a little longer than we did. All in all, it’s a good day for this team."
Jeff (right) had to make daring three-wide passes like this one to get a top-10 at SoBo. (Kathy Bond Photo)
A strong effort for Fultz and the Venable team on a night that did not start as well gives everyone in the #67 shop motiviation for when everything lines up and they can compete for the wins like they are so close to doing now.
"We were really bad tight, then it got really bad loose, but tight at the same time. We got down a lap early there, but we made it up the smart way. We drove up through there and kept adjusting on it and got it better.
"Curtis and I talked and we know that if we can get the car right, we’ll be fine. We just have to work on the car and come back out and keep working hard to run up front."
