Joey Clanton wanted a lot more out of his final race in the No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford Friday night. But he left the Homestead-Miami Speedway with a sincere appreciation for the work accomplished by his Wood Brothers/JTG Racing team.

Clanton started the season-finale Ford 200 in 11th place. He raced in the Top 10 for most of the first 100 miles, but got shuffled off the lead lap by pitting out of sequence with the leaders. He wound up 26th.

Clanton also finished second in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings.

The driving duties in the Zaxby’s Ford were shared by Clanton and Stacy Compton. Together the combined for seven Top 10 finishes with Compton enjoying a season-best second-place finish at Dover, Del., and Clanton finishing sixth at the Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.

WHAT THE TEAM HAS TO SAY

Joey Clanton, No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford F-150:
“We had a good qualifying spot and we did everything we needed to do,” he said. “We made the right adjustments on the first pit stop and the truck felt good. It was a little tight in the beginning of the race but we made an adjustment to free it up. We took off and had to pit under that green and got caught up in the caution. I was watching the top five trucks through my windshield the whole night long.

“We just came up short for Ford and Zaxby's. The biggest thing tonight and all day long is I'm proud of my guys. We fought an ill-handling truck today and they stuck with it. We made every change we could make and had a good
truck through the night. I'm glad I could race with such a great crew. We had a lot of fun this year. I’m sure Stacy would agree this team came a long way this year. You always want to finish stronger than you started, and we accomplished that.”