Fighting finish for Jack Daniel's Racing at Phillip Island

PHILLIP ISLAND, Victoria, Australia – The Jack Daniel's Racing Nissan Altimas of Rick and Todd Kelly fought hard in the final race of the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400, with duo capping off a promising weekend in 12th and 15th in the 200km long encounter.

With overnight rain changing track conditions, the pair qualified in 14th and 18th places respectively, and ran alternating pit strategies early.

A mid-race safety car saw the entire field file into the pits for the second compulsory pitstop, with Todd having to wait in line behind Rick.

After restarting 21st, Todd drove hard throughout the closing laps to pick up a total of six positions by the checkered flag.

For Rick, an off track excursion at turn one in heavy traffic curtailed what was setting up as a top-ten finish.

The V8 Supercars Championship concludes at Homebush in Sydney on December 5-7.

JACK DANIEL'S RACING QUOTEBOARD

RICK KELLY - #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Nissan Altima:
Qualifying- 14th
Race Result- 12th

"Yesterday I had some dramas off the line, but the guys fixed that up for me and I got a reasonable start," said Rick Kelly.

"It's really quite a relief to do that, as it's such a fine art; it was great to be able to sort it out.

"The car today wasn't quite as strong as it was yesterday with the changing track conditions, but that was the same for all of the Nissans.

"Unfortunately not quite a top-ten. I had an off at turn one with a bit of aero push, and it probably cost me a couple of places which would have put me in the ten.

"My bad there, but nether-the-less a really positive weekend and a good step forward.

"Just keen to go to the last round and finish the season off on a high to set us up for next year."

TODD KELLY - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Nissan Altima:
Qualifying- 18th
Race Result- 15th

"That was a shame. That was one helluva waste of a good race car," said Todd Kelly.

"I had the pace, but I shouldn't have qualified back in 18th place to start with.

"The double stacking is basically what killed us. We went back to virtually last place, and then we had to drive back through the field.

"It's pretty hard to pass cars normally, but I was able to pluck a good handful off with the pace of the car.

"It's unfortunate about that safety car, because we had a good race car to get a result there."

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