PETERSEN MEDIA
DJ Netto had a great car for the first half of the Johnny Key Classic on Saturday night, but adjustments at the halfway point did not work out for the youngster, and he slipped back to a 12th place finish when the 50-lap feature ended.
“I am pleased with how we were early in the night,” Netto said. “We made the wrong adjustments during the break and really took ourselves out of contention, and that is frustrating.”
By way of his first career sprint car win earlier in the season, Netto was locked into the 50-lap feature event, as well as the six-car Dash to line up the first three rows of the feature event.
Winning the Dash over Kyle Hirst, Netto earned the right to start the feature event on the pole, but it was Kyle Hirst getting the jump over Netto and his Netto Ag/Penny Newman Grain/Bogies Auto Parts machine.
Hanging with Hirst, Netto made a huge move over Hirst on the 11th lap to grab the lead.
Hanging tough out front, Netto continued to lead the stacked field, until the red flew on lap 24, and officials elected to make it the scheduled open flag, and crews could make all the adjustments they wanted to.
Hoping to keep Netto fast, his crew went to work on his mount, but it proved to be the wrong changes.
When action resumed, Netto was able to keep his lead, but he had Tommy Tarlton breathing down his neck, and Netto lost the lead on lap 33, as Tarlton blew past him.
On the 35th lap, it came unraveled for Netto as he got out of shape, and slipped back to the 12th spot, where he would ultimately finish.
“We just made the wrong adjustments,” he said. “We were really tight early in the race, and we were okay, so they went too far trying to free me up, and I really had nothing for anybody the last 20 laps or so.”
DJ and his Netto Racing team would like to thank Netto Agriculture, Penny Newman Grain, Bogies Auto Parts, and Vande Pol Enterprises for their support in 2013.
2013 BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-32, Wins-1, Top 5’s-8, Top 10’s-18
ON TAP: DJ and his Netto Motorsports will head north to take on the World of Outlaws as they will return to action on September 3rd at the Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, OR before following the series down to Chico, CA for the Gold Cup Race of Champions!
STAY CONNECTED: Stay updated with DJ and his team by following him on twitter @DJNetto88.