From Peterson Media
After making the Chili Bowl feature in 2012, Rico Abreu came into the 2013 event looking to build on his previous finish after competing full time in the USAC National Midget series in 2012.
Qualifying on Thursday night, Abreu and his Keith Kunz Motorsports/Toyota TRD/Abreu Vineyards backed entry scored a fourth place finish in his heat, ultimately putting him in the first qualifier of the night.
Starting in the fourth row of the race, Abreu used a great start to work his way inside the top five, where he made a late pass on Tim Crawley to score the fourth spot at the stripe.
With points from his heat and qualifier setting the feature line up, Abreu found himself in the 14th spot for the 25 lap feature event.
With the indoor track at the QuickTrip center slicking off, Abreu got moving early in the feature as he worked his way inside the top 10.
Being stuck in the thick of traffic, Abreu went both high and low looking to gain valuable positions, but on the ninth lap, he lost the handle and stalled in turns one and two.
Restarting from the back, Abreu wasn’t able to make much ground up as he finished in the 14th spot.
“Our car was plenty fast, I just got in a rhythm, and tried to do to much about halfway in to the feature,” Abreu said.
Saturday night, Abreu’s night started off in the C main event. Starting in the ninth spot, Abreu would need to advance at least three positions to move into the B feature event.
When the green flag dropped, Abreu got off to a slow start as he fell back to the 10th position. After an early caution, Abreu used to the restart to his advantage and jumped into the sixth and final transfer spot, making his way into the B main.
Starting in the 20th spot of the B, Abreu needed to pass 14 cars to make his second consecutive Chili Bowl feature, but on the eight lap, while running in the 12th spot, contact was, and Abreu’s machine was sent into the turn one and two wall, and his Chili Bowl was finished.
“It’s disappointing to not make the feature, but at the same time this is one of the toughest races in the world. My guys worked their butts off with five cars here, and I couldn’t me more proud of what they did all week.”
Rico and his team would like to thank Abreu Vineyards, Toyota, ButlerBuilt,, Outlaw Wings, and Petersen Media for their partnership.
2013 BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-5, Wins-0, Top 5’s-0, Top 10’s-0
ON TAP: Rico will now gear back up for another trip to Australia where he will compete at the Grand Classic!
STAY CONNECTED: Stay updated with Rico by visiting his website at www.ricoabreuracing.com, ‘liking’ him on facebook at www.facebook.com/
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