7/6/2017
Cappello Goes Back to Back with Win at Kern
(Image Credit: Kern County Raceway)
26 Promotions – Bakersfield, CA – (July 6th, 2017) – Carrying the momentum from his win at Madera Speedway three weeks ago, Dylan Cappello and the rest of the Lucas Oil Modified drivers invaded Kern County Raceway for race number five of the championship season.
Four thirty-minute practice sessions were on tap for Friday and Cappello felt great right out of the box.
“Once again, I have to give a huge thank you to my crew for being bad fast out of the trailer,” said Cappello. “Friday night we ran one or two sessions to make sure the balance of the car was where I wanted it. Quickly after, we got our scuff runs out of the way to find out which tires would be our race set. This left us a whole session to convert to race trim and practice long setups for the race. We learned that on old tires we were very good, but still had some ideas on how to improve.”
One forty-minute and a thirty-minute final practice kicked off the action on Saturday. Cappello ran the tenth fastest lap in the first practice and followed that up with the fastest lap in the final practice before setting up for qualifying.
“Rolling out Saturday, we ran laps on the same old tires to see how the car reacted to cold and hot track temperatures,” Cappello explained. “With what we learned, we began formulating a plan for the race. Qualifying went well and we put up a stellar lap that was good enough for second. The team has been improving on our qualifying throughout the year and that is great for track position to save tires early in the race.”
Following qualifying was the Quick 6 Dash. Starting on the inside of the third row, Cappello planned to use the six laps to assess the competition.
“The trophy dash turned out to be a great show for the fans,” said Cappello. “Starting fifth, the plan was to take it easy and see where we stacked up against the fastest cars in the field. Coming out of turn two I saw a hole for third and took the spot. At that point, I decided to go for the win. Passing for second with three to go, I didn’t know if we had enough to catch the leader who was about a second ahead. On the last lap, I got a run off turn two that put us in a drag race through turn three and to the finish line. It was awesome to see that we had a car that had potential to make passes if we found ourselves in traffic.”
With a two pulled for the invert, Cappello started on the pole for the seventy-five-lap feature. Cappello beat the 24-car off turn two and pulled out to the lead.
“Saving tires became the priority after pulling out to a decent lead over second,” explained Cappello. “That stayed the plan until lap thirty when second began to make a run and I had to protect my position by charging harder than I wanted.”
With no cautions by lap fifty-five, Cappello knew he was in a race to the finish with heavy lap traffic coming into play.
“For the last twenty laps, we ran up on cars two wide and cars that were leaking oil,” he said. “This made for an intense race that was nose to tail on multiple occasions. Taking the checkered flag was an awesome feeling to finally put together a win at a racetrack where we have shown speed recently with bad luck.”
Cappello’s second win of the year closes the gap between him and point leader Taylor Miinch down to thirty points with five more races to go in the championship series.
Next up for Cappello is a trip to Rocky Mountain Speedway in Salt Lake City, Utah on July 22nd.
Dylan would like to thank Ram Mounts, Sears Garage Doors, Spray Nine, Driven Motorsports, Team RBK, Pro Power Racing Engines, Total Power Batteries, Roger Seymour Photography and Bilstein Shocks for their continued support.
Results
Practice 1: 10th, 19.499
Final Practice: 1st, 18.951
Qualifying: 2nd, 18.813
Dash: 5th -> 1st
Feature: 1st -> 1st
Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CappelloRacing/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dylancappello11
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dylancappello11/
Website: http://www.dylancappello.com/
Article Credit: 26 Promotions
