CLERMONT, Ind. – I was nervously excited about my doubleheader weekend at Lucas Oil Raceway.
To me it felt like the moment of truth regarding whether or not I was truly competitive in a midget and Silver Crown car and if I truly belong out there with these open-wheel pavement short-track veterans and champions.
I knew we had a good shot at a really strong finish in the Silver Crown car with Davey Hamilton because in both previous Silver Crown races, if we had finished them, we were likely going to score a top-10 in both scenarios.
The main question mark was whether or not we were going to be competitive in the midget. After Thursday practice we were pretty hopeful going into race day.
Practice for both cars went fairly smoothly. The main goal for each was to get comfortable with the setup and to improve the setup as much as possible before qualifying.
In the midget our setup wasn’t quite there for qualifying, but we still qualified 14th of 26, actually going out a second time and improving on pace but not improving our starting position.
In the Silver Crown car we struggled in practice getting the car to feel and drive right. We were struggling with looseness and experiencing a weird engine issue where it felt like we were down on power despite not having changed the setup since we ran at Winchester Speedway.
Nonetheless, we got it figured out and went out for our qualifying attempt. Unfortunately, during our practice struggles we didn’t have time to scuff a new set of tires in and ended up having to qualify on brand new sticker tires.
This isn’t ideal for maximizing speed and grip, but I did my best with what we had. During practice we were significantly off pace from my competitors and were about six tenths off my fastest lap time at the track there. However, on my first flying lap I went three tenths faster than my fastest practice time and on the second I shaved off another four tenths to nearly match my fastest lap time from the last time we ran at Lucas Oil Raceway.
This was as good of a result as we reasonably could wish for and I was happy I was able to execute for the team. Despite our efforts, we ended up only qualifying 18th among a very tight and competitive field of 26.
I started 14th in the midget race and in 32 laps worked my way up to 10th. I was maintaining a competitive pace with the fastest guys and was still on the lead lap, which I had never been able to do up to this point.
I was only moving forward, which was big for me and the team and it showed that our engine and chassis package is actually competitive and viable. I was in the hunt for even more positions, but unfortunately my race ended on lap 32 after I made a bonehead move trying to pass Justin Grant, who was falling off the pace and holding me up.
The car was the best I’d ever felt during the race but even I knew from previous laps attempting to pass him on the inside that the car was getting pretty loose when I went to brake really hard. On lap 32 going into turn one I apparently didn’t learn my lesson and got too impatient and decided to stand on the brakes to try and pass Justin.
This bonehead move made the rear severely loose, so loose that I couldn’t regain control of the car and I ended up hitting the wall, which ended our race. This was the most upsetting moment in my racing career so far as I made a completely avoidable mistake in a race where the stakes were pretty high.
Needless to say I was not happy and felt really guilty after all the hard work the team put into getting the car in such a competitive state.
I had to quickly regain my composure though because I had a 100-lap Silver Crown race to focus on. Up to that point we hadn’t been able to complete a full Silver Crown race. The first race at Lucas Oil Raceway only lasted five laps before I got taken out. Then my first actual Silver Crown race at Winchester Speedway ended at halfway due to a fuel issue.
This time I was intent on accomplishing our goal of finishing the entire race. We didn’t want to go into the race with unrealistic expectations, but we also thought a good secondary goal would be to finish in the top-10. We came so close to both of these goals in the race.
The start of the Silver Crown race wasn’t ideal. I drove a little too deep into the first corner carrying too much speed and got into the outside wall. This forced me to slow down enough to get the car off of the wall and continue racing.
That mistake cost me about four positions as I dropped back to 22nd or so. During the next 92 laps I went on the hardest charge I’ve ever made through a field of cars, working my way all the way up to 10th without incident.
On what ended up being my final restart of the race I had a pretty decent start. Didn’t gain or lose any positions, but going into turn one on lap 93 an opening presented itself when a couple of the cars on the top lane got into each other and slowed down dramatically. I had to take some evasive action to avoid contact but to me it was worth it since I was likely going to overtake at least two cars in one corner.
However, the second I shifted my focus away from them I was greeted with a wall of smoke directly in front of me that was created by a spinning car who had locked up the brakes. I tried to dive down to the very bottom, all the way down and through the grass in an attempt to avoid this vehicle that I couldn’t see, but unfortunately he ended up in my path and I made pretty square contact with him, which broke a couple car parts and ended my race.
This one was way less upsetting because I didn’t make a stupid mistake, I just got taken out by circumstances outside of my control.
In the end, everyone was super proud of me and gave me praise for running a really strong and solid race and showing and proving that I belong with some of the best in pavement Silver Crown racing.
It sucks that I got taken out again, but I’m reassured by the knowledge that our actual performance far surpasses our results. Overall, a pretty heartbreaking weekend in terms of crashed cars and finishing results, but still a very good weekend in terms of my racing development and growth as well as me proving to myself that I have what it takes to compete at the highest level of pavement short-track racing.