MILWAUKEE, WIS. – Chris Wimmer and the MB Motorsports team were rewarded for their perseverance and hard work Friday night with a solid top-20 finish at the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) Black Cat 200 held at the Milwaukee Mile. Wimmer qualified 29th in a truck that had been extremely tight all day and drove what should have been a 30th-place race truck to a 20th-place finish after a late-race pass of Shelby Howard.

“My guys did a great job for me (Friday night),” said Wimmer. “We had a truck that just didn’t want to cooperate and they made a ton of changes during practice and during the race. Towards the end of the night, the track finally came to us. Being able to finish the race was great, but getting a top-20 finish and knowing we had a strong truck has given this team a big lift going into Kansas City next week.”

While MB Motorsports team owner/crew chief Mike Mittler was pleased with the outcome, he was hardly surprised. “I’ve known since the day we signed Chris we were going to see some good racing from him, so the Milwaukee results weren’t that much of a shock. What pleases me the most about him is how intelligent he is behind the wheel,” he said. “He was communicating to us all night what was wrong with the truck and what we needed to do to fix it. We made those changes and were rewarded with a good finish.

“The biggest credit to Chris’s driving style is the fact that there was not a scratch on the truck after the race was over,” Mittler continued. “There was a lot of beating and banging and a bunch of wrecks and Chris managed to stay away from all of it. It’s not like he wasn’t in the thick of it with the rest of the drivers, but he was smart enough to stay out of the messes. We may not have the fastest truck sometimes and we may not have the most money, but I’m willing to bet you we have one of the smartest drivers on the track at any given race. Mark my words, we’re going to see great things from Chris Wimmer this season.”

The race topped off a fun week for Wimmer, who celebrated his 25th birthday June 23 and was able to visit friends and family he had not seen for quite some time. “It was great,” he said. “I had a bunch of family there, including my sister and oldest brother and their families, along with some of my best friends who I don’t get to see very often anymore. Being able to run well in Milwaukee made my NASCAR debut in Wisconsin that much more special.”

Also in attendance were representatives of ENERPAC, one of Wimmer’s Milwaukee-based sponsors. “Having them there was great,” said Wimmer. “They’ve been a great help for us and have given us a lot of support this season. I’m glad they were there and hope they had a lot of fun watching us from the pits.”

ENERPAC is the leading manufacturer of hydraulic tools and components for a variety of applications worldwide, making it the brand of choice for industries such as automotive manufacturing and assembly, construction, power generation, metals transformation, and maintenance and repair operations.

The next race for Wimmer and the MB Motorsports #63 Ford is the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at the Kansas Speedway Satuday, July 3rd. The race will be broadcast live by SPEED at 2 p.m. CST and MRN radio at 1:30 p.m. CST.