Chris Ferguson was among the many drivers who struggled to get their cars to turn on a hammer-down Eldora Speedway surface during Thursday's Intercontinental Classic prelim night. That cost him dearly midway through Thursday's 30-lap feature when the Mount Holly, N.C., driver jumped the cushion getting into turn one and dropped from fifth to 16th.

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Things got even worse two laps later when Kyle Bronson slowed directly in front of Ferguson with a flat tire. With nowhere to go, Ferguson made heavy contact and ramped the left-rear of Bronson’s car. Ferguson was able to limp to a 19th-place finish, but his car was left with heavy front-end damage that would require significant work to repair before Friday’s second round of preliminary racing.

“The track was real, real fast tonight and had a big cushion. We fought being tight on entry all night, and it’s no fun being tight on entry when there’s a cushion like that,” Ferguson said. “We dug ourselves a hole and I just never seen (Bronson). It was a hard hit and bent some stuff. The steering wheel was straight at the start and now it’s about 90 degrees to the right. So yeah, we’re going to have to go through the whole front end.”

Even with the rough finish to Eldora’s opening night, Ferguson remains optimistic about his chances the rest of the weekend.

“It’s frustrating because I’d really like to have had another top-five here, but the good news is we never had a good car tonight and we were still in the top five,” Ferguson said. “We’ll get it fixed up and make some adjustments to try and get this thing to turn and steer a little better. I think we should be pretty good the next two nights.”