Jennifer Jo Cobb and the No. 10 Mark One Electric Ford team finished a disappointing, but aspiring, 28th in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at the Kansas Speedway. For Cobb, the finish proved disheartening at her hometown track, but the effort and lessons learned will only help the team improve moving forward.

Cobb lined up the No. 10 Mark One Electric Ford in the 21st position to start the 167?lap main event. After the first lap, Cobb proved she had a strong truck and was up to 19th by the first caution on Lap 8. The truck was “tight”, but lap times proved that Cobb was faster than most of her nearest competitors. On the restart, Cobb went high to make a pass. The track, lacking significant grip, didn’t hold the Mark One Electric No. 10 and Cobb spun backwards into the Turn 4 wall. The damage was severe enough to send the crew behind the wall for repairs on Lap 16.

The crew immediately went to work to get Cobb back on the track. They didn’t let her or the teams supporter’s down. With local sponsors such as Mark One Electric, Big Bob’s Outlet, Time Warner Cable of Kansas City and Metro Ford, the team wanted to return to the track and gain as many points as possible. The team, showing much perseverance, did just that and had Cobb back on the track by Lap 41. Cobb was able to run lap times as quick as she did prior to the accident. It also allowed her to move up five positions, the most possible, and settle into 28th by Lap 75.

On Lap 98 misfortune struck again. A truck dove below Cobb and clipped her enough to send Cobb again backward into the wall. The team tried once again to make repairs, but the late?race accident would not allow the team to gain any more positions. Getting the most out of a difficult situation, Cobb and the team retired after completing 65 laps.

“Yeah, this is a disappointing way to end the race,” said Cobb. “We had such high hopes and a really fast truck today. The guys did a great job of preparing for this race and we really thought a top?15 finish was easily attainable today. Early on, the truck was tight, but we were still fast. I went to the second groove and there was just no grip. The back spun around and we had to go back and make repairs. I give a lot of credit to the guys for getting us back out there so quickly. We were just as competitive when we went back out than we were at the start.

“The second wreck, that was just something that probably shouldn’t have happened. I didn’t know another truck was below me, and everything happened with no warning. That was really disappointing. It ended our day on the track. We were working to get back out there, but we couldn’t gain any more spots. I’ve got to thank everyone who has stood behind this effort this weekend and the whole season so far. The season is still young and today we proved we can overcome adversity. We’ll learn from this and move on.”

Cobb remains 22nd in the championship point standings only 49 marks out of the top?20. The team now turns their attention to the Dover International Speedway on Friday May 14 for the Dover 200. The event will be televised live by SPEED Channel and broadcast live by MRN Radio affiliates.

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