July 25, 2016 – A win at Knoxville Raceway Saturday night came at a great time for Brian Brown and the Casey’s General Stores/FVP #21 team. It followed up a strong top five showing at the King’s Royal on July 16, and precedes a busy upcoming three weeks. This week finds the team running four races, starting Thursday with the ASCS-Warrior region in Sedalia, Missouri. Friday, the team will head to Jackson Motorplex in Minnesota for a $20,000 to win NSL event, before heading to Knoxville Saturday and the Hancock County Speedway near Britt, Iowa Sunday for more NSL action.
The weekend at the King’s Royal seemed to go well.
It was a really successful weekend in my opinion as an owner. We were in contention on Thursday night and ran sixth. Friday night, there was driver error and I got into the fence. That wasn’t good, because it created a lot of work for my guys.
You came back for Saturday’s finale and put yourself on the front row.
We didn’t qualify well, but it put us in a good position (in the heat). We were able to win the heat. In the feature, we started outside row one. We raced with Jamie Veal, and something came off his car and put a hole in our hood. We were out front with the hood flapping around and that got to be a hindrance in seeing where I was going. Then I got in the fence and knocked the jacob’s ladder off. We were headed in the wrong direction really quick.
Luckily, there was a stoppage.
The guys did a good job on the red in getting the hood changed. We were able to come back and get fifth. Overall, I was really proud of our team. We had a legitimate shot to win the King’s Royal and we’re looking forward to getting back there soon.
Last Thursday, you raced the Bobby Parker Memorial at I-80 Speedway in Nebraska with the MSTS and Nebraska 360’s. You started fifth in the feature.
The first half of the race, we didn’t feel that great. We were rolling around there in third, and we had a good race going with Terry (McCarl). We were able to get by (Seth) Brahmer for second and had a yellow late. We chased (Jack) Dover around there and got beside him, but we couldn’t quite pull it off. It was a good night there though finishing second.
Jackson put up $10,000 to win Friday night.
We didn’t qualify very well (11th). We won the heat from third, which was good. We started fifth in the feature. That place has been narrow lately, and we’ve had trouble passing. We fell back as far as eighth, and came back up to sixth. Ian (Madsen) and I had a good race for fifth at one time. He got the better of us, but overall, it was still a pretty decent night.
Saturday at Knoxville, you timed in ninth quick, which I’m sure you weren’t happy about.
We were the quickest car hot-lapping. Qualifying, I didn’t do my job. I turned two mediocre laps. You can be two-tenths off and be ninth quick like that. But it wasn’t the end of the world. We had the car speed, I just needed to do my job.
You went from fourth to second in the heat, and the invert saw you start outside row one for the feature.
We knew it would be tough with Ian beside us, and Danny (Lasoski) and Craig (Dollansky) behind us. There were a lot of good cars all around us. Ian had a good start, but unfortunately, had trouble there the first lap and fell out. From that point on, it was about going as hard as you could go at all points of the race. Lapped traffic was pretty intense at times. With Danny behind you, you know he’s not going to give up. That pushes you to the limit. I saw him a couple times and fended him off. Then I didn’t see him again.
You lapped up to eighth place, and the win comes at a good time doesn’t it?
It was really what we needed. We’ve had a fast car lately, but we haven’t had the results we’ve wanted. We’ve had some top fives and top tens, but we’re looking for the wins. To get a win this close to Nationals is always good for our team. There were two or three days last week that my guys saw the sun rise in 100-degree heat. They put in about 125 hours last week, and there wasn’t one complaint from Chad (Morgan), Michael (Williams) or Wyatt (Burks). That just shows you what type of guys we’ve got. They know what the golden prize here is and we’re headed in that direction.
You have another busy week ahead, starting with Sedalia Thursday.
It will be good to get back over there. We have Ditzfeld Transfer, Impact, Champion Oil…a lot of people that really help us from that area. It’s awesome that Tod (Quiring) is putting up $20,000 to win on Friday at Jackson, and we’re looking forward to Knoxville on Saturday and Britt Sunday.