By Bill W
August 30, 2011 – Carson McCarl is focused on one more night at the Knoxville Raceway. The 16 year old leads the 305 class by 61 points over Jamie Ball heading into Knoxville Championship Cup Series Season Championship night this Saturday. Last weekend, he recorded a sixth place finish in the feature.
It was a fast track for qualifying on Saturday. After being caught behind another competitor most of the way, Carson recorded the fifth quick time in the 25-car field. “Where we ended up wasn’t bad,” he says. “We were all right in qualifying. Obviously, it was a pretty fast track with some records falling. Fifth put us in the first two rows for the feature, so that was good.”
The Altoona, Iowa High School Junior won from outside row one in his heat race in an event that almost set another record. “The car was really good in the heat,” says Carson. “The guys had it working well. We were able to start up front in the clean air, which helped too. It felt like I was cruising.”
Starting outside of row two, Carson cruised in the third spot for much of the feature before a late yellow changed things. “We were going good there for most of the way,” he says. “The restart we had really hurt me. I got pinched into the wall a little bit and lost a spot. It was hard to come back from that.”
After losing a few spots, Carson held on to finish sixth. “The track was pretty heavy to start the feature, but it really slicked off more than I thought it would in the feature,” he says. “Before the yellow we were really going good around the bottom. We were getting a run on second, and after the restart we just ran out of racetrack when we got pinched.”
Carson would be lying if he said he wasn’t thinking about the possibility of winning a championship at Knoxville. “It would be really cool to win it,” he says. “It’s not something that even crossed my mind before the season started. I just have to go out and do my best and not do anything stupid. Without the Berryhill family, Deanfield Farms, Van Gorp Construction and all our partners, I wouldn’t even be able to be racing, let alone going for a championship. I’d like to thank them again.”
Visit Carson on the Web!
Keep up to date on Carson’s racing at www.CarsonMcCarl.com!
Carson’s Releases!
Stay up close and personal with Carson McCarl’s racing. To receive Carson’s Releases, send an e-mail to sprntcar@iowatelecom.net with “Carson” in the subject line.
Carson would like to thank Deanfield Farms, AmeriCashAdvance.com, Van Gorp Construction, Vortex, Hoosier, DeBerg Concrete, HRP, Engler Machine, Mark Burch, Phil and Vivian, Automotive Machine Racing Engines, Eagle Motorsports, Hinchman Racewear, Schoenfeld Headers, BMRS, Crow Safety, Butlerbuilt, KSE, Aurora Rod Ends, Chris Spaulding – Attorney at Law, K&N Filters, Sander, Bell, Jocko’s and Danny’s Auto Salvage for all their help!