Inside Line Promotions
BRANDON, S.D. (May 25, 2021) – Justin Henderson parked the Mike Sandvig Racing No. 7 in the Huset’s Speedway Victory Lane on Sunday evening for the second consecutive week to cap a successful weekend of racing.
Henderson also scored finishes of fourth and seventh during a Saturday night event at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, where the second feature was a make-up race.
“If not for that mishap in lapped traffic in the first race of the season, we have led every lap at Huset’s except one,” he said. “We were confident to start the year, but I even think we’ve kind of surprised ourselves with how fast we truly are across the board.”
Henderson kicked off the weekend at Knoxville Raceway, where he laid down a lap of 14.781 seconds in qualifying to time in third quickest among 20 drivers. He followed that up by advancing four positions in a heat race to finish second.
Henderson lined up on the outside of the second row for the feature and by Lap 2 he was already in a podium position in third. He overtook the second position with four laps remaining and had an opportunity to compete for the lead on two late restarts. However, he was unable to mount a challenge and slipped to fourth on the final lap for his third top-five finish of the season.
“I lost power steering coming to the white flag and I thought I was going to make it until the end, but that caution came out and left me a sitting duck,” Henderson said. “I opted to kind of try something different to get us to the end and a couple guys got me. It was unfortunate to end things that way.”
In the make-up feature, Henderson lined up from the fifth starting position and he fell back to seventh on the opening circuit. By Lap 11 he worked himself forward to the sixth position and he stayed there for the next eight laps before slipping back to seventh on the final lap for his sixth top 10 of the season.
“We got the power steering fixed and we didn’t make a ton of changes to the car between the features,” he said. “We just were not very good at all from our setup to my driving. We just kind of missed the boat there and we ended up seventh.”
The solid night was good enough to move Henderson into the lead in the Knoxville Raceway championship standings.
Henderson and Sandvig headed to Huset’s Speedway on Sunday to finish out the weekend. Henderson set quick time in qualifying with a lap of 10.835 seconds. He then advanced two positions in a heat race to finish second before garnering the third starting spot in the A Main courtesy of the feature redraw.
It only took one lap for Henderson to rocket forward to the top spot as he used the bottom in turns one and two before climbing to the cushion in turns three and four. A caution on Lap 10 wiped away Henderson’s advantage and he had to hold off a late-race challenge from second-place Brooke Tatnell over the final five circuits. However, he was able to hold on to cross the finish line first by .754 of a second to score the win for the second consecutive week. That propelled him into the lead in the standings.
“I was kind of preserving there at the end and I wasn’t pushing things too much,” he said. “I saw Brooke show me his nose and I knew I needed to go. After that I just kept watching the board and making sure I had plenty of room to get the win. I’m so proud of our team and how far we’ve come to be in this spot.”
Henderson and Sandvig will again head to Knoxville Raceway this Saturday and Huset’s Speedway on Sunday and Monday for a Buffalo Wild Wings Northern Outlaw Sprint Association doubleheader.
“We couldn’t ask for a better start to the season with how well he have run,” he said. “I’m very confident in our program and If I do my job, I see no reason we can’t get both championships here at the end of the year and that’s what we’re going to keep pushing toward.”
QUICK RESULTS –
May 22 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 3; Heat race: 2 (6); Feature: 4 (4); Make-Up Feature: 7 (5).
May 23 – Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D. – Qualifying: 1; Heat race: 2 (4); Feature: 1 (3).
SEASON STATS –
11 races, 2 wins, 5 top fives, 7 top 10s, 11 top 15s, 11 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, and Sunday and Monday at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D., with the Buffalo Wild Wings Northern Outlaw Sprint Association
MEDIA LINKS –
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Henderson_racin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/90850346221/
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Heartland Kitchen Solutions
Heartland Kitchen Solutions is a Pepperidge Farm route that services the Des Moines, Iowa, area large and small stores. Owned by race fan Curt Plough, who is a retired U.S Army First Sergeant, the business provides exceptional cookies, crackers, breads and more that carry a 75-year tradition of feeding families.
“Mike and Justin are kind of a low budget team and I always enjoy being a part of the underdog mentality,” Plough said. “They kind of remind me of myself and I’m happy to help take them over the hump with our support.”
Sandvig would also like to thank Powersports.com, Morton Buildings, Mamma’s Pizza of Wellsville, Emory Transmission, Eszlinger Electric, DeBerg Flooring, R2 Enterprise, GRP Motorsports, Winters Performance, Schoenfeld Headers, BK Racing TI Components, SBS FK Shocks, Wings Unlimited, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Hinchman Racewear, Rider Racing Engines, Triple X Race Co., Boji Custom Metal Works and Simpson Race Products for their continued support.