Alan Left Wanting More Despite Truck Series Career Best

Lawless Alan (33) battles Ryan Reed Friday at Talladega Superspeedway. (John Harrelson/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Lawless Alan had visions, if only for a split second, of shocking the masses with a breakthrough NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory Friday evening.

And why not? After all, entering the Love’s RV Stop 225, a playoff driver had never won the Truck Series’ postseason stop at Talladega Superspeedway and five of the last eight races at the 2.66-mile oval resulted in a driver’s first trip to the winner’s circle.

So Alan, a 24-year-old native of Van Nuys, Calif., believed there was nothing but opportunity in front of him after taking the white flag in third with the Reaume Brothers Racing-prepared No. 33 AUTODockit Ford F-150.

After biding his time patiently down the backstretch behind eventual winner Grant Enfinger and second-running Christian Eckes, Alan saw his chance materialize coming off turn four, with a run of momentum coming from behind on the outside as Tyler Ankrum pushed Taylor Gray with a full head of steam.

Alan flashed up a groove from the inside, hoping to capitalize and get Gray to push him past Enfinger coming through the tri-oval, but Gray snookered the Californian and went even higher – stuffing Alan into the middle with no help as the battle for the win raged around him.

It turned out to be a half-stroke of fortune, as Alan was then able to dodge the spinning trucks of both Ankrum – who was turned down in front of him by Daniel Dye from the outside – and Christian Eckes when the latter was tipped sideways by a push-gone-wrong from Ryan Reed exiting the tri-oval.

The end result was a career-best fifth place finish, who explained afterward that the closing laps following the final restart with nine to go went according to the plan he’d drawn up.

“It worked out pretty much exactly how I wanted it to. I wanted to be on the bottom, and I wanted the 9 [Enfinger] and the 19 [Eckes] to be in front of me, and that’s how it worked out,” Alan explained afterward. “We all got a really good launch and were all pushing really well.”

As well as it started out, though, Alan saw the energy in the lead pack quickly stall as everyone went single file to the bottom lane, leaving him looking for any way to keep moving forward down the stretch.

“I got to third and was just riding, and I feel like I could have won the race if I effectively blocked the 17 [Gray], but I knew that I had to do something in order to not be third,” Alan noted. “I feel like if I made that move right off turn four, I would have won, honestly.

“I’m happy with fifth, but man … what could have been, you know?” he continued. “I’m super proud of Reaume Brothers Racing and AUTODockit, everybody that has supported me to this point. I’m happy to have given them a finish; it’s not like we got lucky. We were there on merit and speed, so it feels good.”

It has been a steady progression for Alan this season with Reaume Brothers Racing.

He’d posted three top-12 finishes in the Truck Series – at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, and Darlington (S.C.) Raceway – prior to Friday and has four top 10s in six national ARCA Menards Series appearances with owner Josh Reaume’s organization this season as well.

In learning to race up front, Alan’s race craft has improved alongside the team’s equipment, and that combination of factors was nearly rewarded in the biggest way possible on the biggest of stages.

But the end result wasn’t what Alan wanted it to be on paper, and that left him visibly disappointed despite a career day in his 73rd Truck Series start overall.

“The big thing for us is that the work we’ve put in all year is showing now, but I can’t help but feel like this was a missed opportunity,” Alan lamented. “I think if I’d caught the block on the 17 [truck] right, he would’ve had no choice [but] to push me.

“I just missed it. I wanted a little bit more and we were right there to do it. That’s what hurts.”