PETERSEN MEDIA
Continuing his summer Midwest swing, Justyn Cox was in action at the US 36 Raceway in Cameron, MO and at the Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, IA and recorded second and fourth place finishes respectively.
“Overall it was a great weekend, and I have nothing to really complain about,” he said. “We had a couple of great racecars, and we scored some really strong finishes on tracks we hardly get to.”
Kicking his weekend off on Friday night, Cox and his Van Dyke Motorsports team were in action with the ASCS Warrior Region, and his 20 pill put him in the second row in his heat.
Getting a strong start, the Clarksburg, CA driver was able to jump into the second spot, where he finished, and earned a spot in the redraw.
Pulling a three, Cox put his Lucas Oil/K&N/JRI Shocks entry in the second row of the feature event.
As the race went green, Cox settled into the third spot, before getting under Wyatt Burks on the fourth lap to take over the second spot, as he chased after Jack Dover.
With both drivers running on the bottom of the speedway, Cox seemed to be able to get off of turn two better than Dover, keep himself glued to his back bumper, waiting for a slip up.
With Dover hitting his marks lap after lap, Cox was unable to find an opening and settled for the second spot.
“The way the track was, as long as he hit his marks he was going to be tough, and he did just that,” Cox said of Dover. “It was a wide open type of track, and we were right there, he had the preferred starting spot.”
On Saturday night, Cox and company continued on to the Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, IA to take part in the final night of sprint car action at the hallowed facility.
With group qualifying being utilized, Cox was in an early group and wound up timing in seventh fastest.
Again finding himself in the second row of his heat race, Cox was able to use the top to his advantage as he jumped into the second spot, and was unable to get to the point, but he transferred and found himself on the front row of the feature event.
Lining up on the outside of the front row, Cox settled into the second spot, as John Agan had a monster start, and seemed to leave the rest of the field in his dust.
Working in the second spot, with his right-rear on the cushion, Cox opted to dip down to the bottom of the speedway, but his car was too free to run the bottom, and he lost a spot to Randy Martin.
Continuing to battle Martin for second, Martin ultimately won the battle and Cox found himself in the third spot when the caution waived on the 16th lap.
Trying the bottom again, Cox found himself going three wide with the leaders, but he could not make his car stick to the bottom of turns three and four and lost his momentum, and also allowed Scott Winters to sneak past him.
The last couple laps, Cox was able to hang on to finish in the fourth spot.
“We had a long run, and I could tell I needed to try something, so on that last restart, I tried to bottom with the leaders running the top, and almost had something, but was just a tick too free, and slipped back to fourth,” Cox said. “There is a reason Knoxville is so famous, and it is not easy to win at. I am proud with how we ran.”
Justyn and his Van Dyke Motorsports team would like to thank Lucas Oil, K&N Products, JRI Shocks, Rodgers Racing Engines, K1 Safety Gear, JRD Endeavors, Sacramento Theatrical Lighting, Worton Designs, and College Cyclery for their support during the 2013 season.
2013 BY THE NUMBERS: Races-40, Wins-2, Top 5’s-13, Top 10’s-20
ON TAP: Cox and the Van Dyke Motorsports team will make their final Midwest stop this weekend as they will be in action for the Jackson Nationals in Jackson, MN on Friday and Saturday night.
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