Hello all, long time lurker, first time poster. I wish my first post was under better circumstances, but I feel I need to comment on the start and provide my perspective.
My name is Jordan Smart, and I am the #76 in question. I recognize that my bump on the 17 was late. I've watched the start well over 50 times by this point (mine and others) trying to figure out how this could have been avoided. Luckily Tom was heads up enough to grab the brakes after my bump, mostly negating it before we got to turn 1. I recognize my mistake and would like to publicly apologize for it. I will take my lashings and going forward I will be more heads up as to when and where the boosts are applied. I feel especially gutted seeing as I came out of it in the lead.
He also left a huge gap between him and the 17 which created some of the argie bargie.
This gap was not my intention. I always prefer to be on the leading car's bumper on the start (to take advantage of missed shifts, slow starters, etc) and I was expecting a slower start like Saturday. I was full throttle coming out of T7 just trying to catch up before we took the green, but it looks like everyone else was too.
btw #76 is one of the cleanest guys in the pack bar none
Kyle, this means a lot to me. Thank you.