From Bill W
June 2, 2014 – Brad Loyet and the Vacuworx Global/Miller Truck Lines #o5 team are on quite a roll after capturing last Saturday’s Eagle Nationals at the Eagle Raceway in Nebraska. Not only did it put a prestigious race on the Sunset Hills, Missouri driver’s resume, it also thrust him into the point lead in the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series. Coupled with a third place finish at the Salina Speedway in Kansas, the win at Eagle was the fourth podium finish in the last five ASCS events for Brad.
Friday’s race at Salina started with a second place run in the heat after starting sixth. “We had a really good car at Salina,” says Brad. “Last year, we were average there. We talked about it, and we have a new setup that’s working pretty well. We were really good in the heat race, and we ended up with the high point total.”
The redraw saw Brad starting inside row two for the feature. “Unfortunately, it kind of turned into a train around the top,” he says. “It was all about momentum. There were a bunch of yellows and we never really got to lapped traffic. The one time we did, it got interesting.”
He would checker third. “We had a top three car,” says Brad. “I think we were as good as (winner) Jeff Swindell and Jason (Johnson). I was thinking big picture. I could have tried to make it happen with a big slidejob, but unless you know that you can make it work for sure, you want to stay right where you are. We’re here to win a points championship. We had some people making runs at us, but we were able to hold onto third.”
It was on to the 1/3-mile high banks of the Eagle Raceway Saturday. Brad duplicated his heat effort (second) at Salina, this time from fourth. “We had a bad start,” he says of his heat race. “The guy in front of us didn’t take off, and we probably crossed the line fifth. I was able to get to second though. I think I had a car to challenge (Jonathan) Cornell for the win there, but there was a nice hole developing going into one, so I wasn’t going to press it.”
The #o5 was hitting on all cylinders. Brad redrew a starting spot inside row two for the main event and was in the lead by lap three. “One of my crew guys said I needed to get to second by turn two on the first lap,” he says. “We were able to do that on the start. On lap three, I was able to get underneath the leader, and after that, I had a good car. The tires grew like we thought they would and we came out with the win. It was nice to get a big win like the Eagle Nationals!”
The weekend put Brad in the points’ lead with ASCS. Though it’s early, it’s still a good place to be. “We talked about this morning in our team meeting,” says Brad. “It’s early in the year, but we’re leading the points right now. Everybody comes after the guy leading. We went into last week behind by eleven and now we’re twenty-four ahead. Gaining two or three points here or there adds up. We want to be in a position at the last race of the year where we don’t have to play catchup.”
The confidence couldn’t be higher right now. “Right now, I feel like we’re the team to beat,” says Brad. “We are three young kids out here doing what we love to do. Hopefully, we can prove to these guys that have all the years of experience that we can do this. It would mean a lot to pull it off.”
This weekend the series is back in action on Friday at the Lexington 104 Speedway in Lexington, Tennessee and Saturday at the I-30 Speedway near Little Rock, Arkansas. “We led most of the race at Lexington and cut a tire down with three to go,” says Brad. “We’ve shown speed there and at Little Rock in the past, so we feel good about things heading into the weekend.”