With 2 races to go and 5th place in the series getting ever closer the heat was on us to figure out the last scraps of speed in the car on ovals and keep the awesome streak of top 5 finishes going. Kentucky was up and another demanding 1.5 mile flat out oval challenge we had to tackle with both hands.
Qualifying went extremely well. Once I’d gotten over the initial running around a new oval flat out at 190 mph we managed to eek out a pretty decent setup and overall speed to place the car 5th for the race. Things were really looking up as we figured our car’s strongest point wasn’t in outright speed on it’s own, it was better suited for running in traffic in the race. It usually stays strong and helps me bring it home in the top 5.
Dan Clarke
Despite getting a good start in the first 15 laps of the race, things were set to take a turn for the worst. Whilst battling for 4th place with series leader, JK Vernay, the car somehow seemed to lose it’s edge. At the time of writing I can’t say exactly what went wrong as we haven’t had chance to look at every single thing in detail back at the Workshop. The speed of the car just seemed to slip back a little and now, instead of me drafting up behind cars and pulling out to pass, I was a sitting duck for cars to close up to and pass either outside me or down the inside. Nothing I could do and I spent the 2nd half of the race discussing with the team over the radio what we thought could be the problem whilst I tried different lines to carry more speed. Nothing worked.
Still, it’s racing and it’s a privilege. The fans this year have been awesome. Thank you to everyone for supporting our series and also the Speedy fans out there. You know who you are and it’s an honor to see you sporting the Dan Clarke cap. I know the Walker guys will find what the problem was in the race and we’ll be back to full speed in no time.
Full Race Recap:
Now lets go get some at Homestead!
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