2/1/2016
Joshua Hodges
Winter Challenge Finale Win and Wrap-Up
We wrapped up the final two nights of the Winter Challenge this past weekend on a solid note for us. Both nights saw us draw dismal pills putting us in the last row of heat races. On Friday, we were able to get to 3rd but that didn’t allow us to make the top 6 invert so we rolled off from the 8th starting spot. We misread the track conditions a bit and backed up to about 10th in the first few rounds before making a charge back forward around lap 10. With only one caution, we could only make up so much ground and finished 5th, which was a decent spot for us but we knew we had work to do the next night.
On Saturday, we were able to get to 2nd in our heat race and a lap or two from possibly taking the win. That did get us in the invert and we started the A Feature from 4th. The track went slick from the bottom to the top with a cushion on the fence. In the first corner we were able to get to 2nd and soon after we were able to capitalize on a mistake by the leader. At that point we were able to put a gap between us and the field but that shrunk quickly when we got to lap traffic. A lap 11 caution waved and we had Bryan Clauson right on our tail tank. In turns 3 & 4 he attempted a slider that we were able to squeak by and we approached lap traffic quickly once again. Clauson was faster than us but the track was tough to pass on and I think we got through the lapped cars a bit better. The last ten laps he through a number of sliders that each time we were able to sneak around the outside or cut back under. It was with two laps to go that he tried the biggest one and, unfortunately for him, he got into the fence hard and lost a lot of ground. In the end, we were able to hold him off and get our 2nd win of the year! It was an exciting race behind the wheel and I am so proud of our team and everybody who helped us get off to a good start for 2016!
Submitted By: Jack Hodges
