From Bill W
July 29, 2013 – Brian Brown and the Casey’s General Stores/FVP #21 team is riding high with momentum heading into this week’s Knoxville 360 Nationals and Sunday’s “Capitani Classic”. The Grain Valley, Missouri driver has won his last four of seven races contested heading in. Two came at Knoxville, including last Saturday night’s 410 feature.
What do you think of Knoxville’s qualifying system running three cars for two laps?
Knoxville made a little change there and I think it’s good. We’ve been qualifying well all year (third Saturday) and obviously our Charlie Garrett engines are running well. Anytime you can qualify in the top two or three in the weekly show with the caliber of competition…it’s always good.
You were able to run second in your heat after starting sixth.
The heats are a good test. There are good cars in every single heat. When you can go forward like that, it’s a good sign for the Nationals.
You seemed to have made advances on running the bottom.
We’ve really been working on running the bottom. We’ve been really working on that quite a bit and I’m getting more comfortable. Danny (Lasoski) has been helping me and giving me some of his old secrets he’s been holding out on just to try and help me.
You started sixth in the feature, but you were in the top three right away.
I got a pretty good start. I got rolling really well on the bottom of one and two. I knew with Tim (Kaeding) on the front, it would be tough to catch him, but we were able to catch and pass him.
There was a caution and he got back by you. The two of you put on a great battle for the lead for a while.
I did what I thought I should do and went to the bottom and he drove by me. I felt we put on a whale of a race for the fans there. We were able to get the lead again and I was able to kind of set sail.
That had to feel good.
To win with that caliber of competition before the Nationals is good for our team and running the bottom was good for my confidence. We’ll keep our nose to the grindstone and not get too far ahead of ourselves. We need to work hard and treat each night like it’s a good one.
You also ran in the 360 class. You timed in fourth and then drove from sixth to win the heat.
I think our car in the heat race may have been the best one I’ve ever had at Knoxville. It was great. It was going anywhere I wanted to go.
You looked like you might win for the second week in a row in the 360, but you had a mechanical issue.
I actually didn’t get a good start. I think we fell back to seventh or eighth at one time. We had a Charlie Garrett engine that runs really well too. We got back up to third, and I felt like we had a good shot. We had our throttle stick wide open. It was one of those deals where I ran it for half a lap, and I decided with twelve or fourteen to go, it was a bad idea to continue. It worked out in the end. Congratulations to Randy (Martin). It was great to see him get a win there.
You have to be feeling good heading into this week.
Going into the 360 Nationals, we probably have the most confidence that we’ve ever had. I’m just looking forward to it. If we can start in the first two or three rows, we’ll see if we have something for those guys.
JSTS Speedweek (Editor’s Note: The Editor took a badly timed vacation last week)
You raced three nights of JSTS Speedweek and picked up two wins. On July 17, you won at the Sioux Speedway in Sioux Center, Iowa.
We had a good night. We drew inside the second row and won the heat. That put us on the front row with Jamie Veal for the feature and we were able to win it. That was our Jaymie Moyle engine that got the win that night. Our 360 program has been solid. They did a great job putting on that whole JSTS Speedweek.
The following night you headed to the Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids, Iowa.
We were able to go from seventh to third in the heat and that gave us enough passing points to start third in the A. I got a good start and actually got past Rico (Abreu) and (Terry) McCarl. We honestly weren’t that great. McCarl got back by and so did Rico. We ended up third.
On Friday, July 19, you scored another win at the Fairmont Speedway in Minnesota.
We were able to start outside of the front row of the heat and win it. We started up front with McCarl. We got the lead and he passed me back. I’m not sure I would have beaten him, but they got him for jumping on the restart with about ten to go. That gave me the lead and we were able to hold them off.
You also picked up a win on Saturday, July 20 at Knoxville in the 360.
We qualified fifth quick with the 360. We were able to chase Billy (Alley) in the A main and we got by him about five laps in. We were able to set sail from there. That was a really good night.
…and you were second in the 410.
We were second quick with the 410 and second in the heat. The feature went non-stop. We started seventh. Danny (Lasoski) got out there too far on us and we were able to close late. We were just a half car length short in the end.
The last two weeks have been great for your team.
Overall, the last couple weeks have been really good. We won four out of seven, and you can’t ask for much more momentum going into the Knoxville Nationals and 360 Nationals. I’m just really proud of our whole team. Chad Morgan, Travis Marsch, Treagan Gates, Mark Clemons, my grandpa George, Glen Wignall, Chad and Gary Ely…they all do a great job along with all of our partners. We’re excited! We just need to keep doing our job.
Follow Brian on the Web, Twitter and Facebook!
Follow Brian at his website located at www.BrianBrownRacing.com!
Also keep up with FVP, Casey’s and Brian on Facebook and Twitter at the following links…
Twitter Links – @BrianBrown21, @FVPRacing, @CaseysGenStores