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Hendricks Shows Speed in Sprint Car Debut at Texas Motor Speedway

(Photo by Vince Vellella Photos)

Inside Line Promotions – FORT WORTH, Texas (April 10, 2018) – Zane Hendricks showed signs of speed in his sprint car debut last weekend during the Tony Stewart Presents the Vankor Texas Sprint Car Nationals at Texas Motor Speedway.

The Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour presented by SawBlade.com event was enjoyable, although somewhat disappointing, for the USAC P1 National Midget Series driver.

“It was a fun weekend, but it was a bit frustrating, too,” Hendricks said. “We had a really, really fast car and ran some fast laps. But then I’d make a mistake and pay a lot for it regarding track position. Texas is a really fast track and if you make a small mistake it can result in losing half a straightaway to the others.

“It was difficult for me to be consistent as it was a huge difference from driving a midget. It definitely seems to be a big learning curve.”

Hendricks was fast during his first laps in a sprint car as he ranked 12th fastest out of 35 drivers during hot laps on Friday night in the Loyet Motorsports entry.

“It took a few laps to get comfortable,” he said. “It was difficult to make myself drive the car further into the turns and straighter than the midget.”

His first race in a sprint car was a respectable effort as he started fifth in his heat race and finished fourth.

“I dropped back to sixth on the first lap, but was able to get back to fourth,” he said. “Unfortunately, that put us one point short of being locked into the feature.

“I also learned how sensitive these cars are to clean or dirty air. In a midget, you can follow another car on its bumper without it affecting your car. In a winged sprint car, if you’re right behind another car, it’s really difficult to get yours to turn. I think that was my biggest struggle of the weekend.”

Hendricks started a B Main on the pole.

“The car got really tight on me going into the first turn and I lost a lot of ground,” he said. “I fell back to about seventh or eighth and eventually came back to finish sixth. I was disappointed in myself because I had a great car, but I just messed up driving into the first turn and that cost me a transfer to the A Main.”

Hendricks began Saturday night on the outside front row of his heat race.

“I had a good start, but it didn’t matter because we had a red on the first lap,” he said. “On the restart, I spun the tires really bad and fell back to fourth by the time we got to the first turn. The field got kind of strung out and that was where I finished.”

His heat race finish slotted him in the third starting position in a B Main.

“I had bad start, similar to the one the night before,” he said. “I got under another car in the first turn and then the car got really tight and I dropped way back. I did pass a couple of cars, but ended up sixth again.

“I’m really grateful to the Loyets for the opportunity and for giving me a great car. I had a good time. I just wish I could have been more consistent and had better results. The aerodynamics of those cars are a huge difference from what I’m used to.”

Hendricks will be back behind the wheel of a more familiar racing machine this Friday and Saturday when he competes for Tucker-Boat Motorsports in the USAC P1 Insurance National Midget Series event at Kokomo Speedway in Kokomo, Ind.

QUICK RESULTS –

April 6 – Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas – Heat race: 4 (5); B Main: 6 (1).

April 7 – Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas – Heat race: 4 (2); B Main: 6 (3).

SEASON STATS –

5 races, 0 wins, 1 top five, 2 top 10s, 2 top 15s, 2 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Friday and Saturday at Kokomo Speedway in Kokomo, Ind., with the USAC P1 Insurance National Midgets Series

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.ZaneHendricks.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hendricks_zane

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Zanehendricksracing/

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Momentum Racing Suspensions

Momentum Racing Suspensions is a racing suspension company that specializes in building and rebuilding shocks for the racing industry. The company is owned by Brad Benic, a leader in the industry who has been around racing his entire life and in the suspension business since 1995. For more information, visit http://www.MomentumRacingSuspensions.com.

“Brad Benic’s customer service is one of the best out there,” Hendricks said. “He’s always open to any questions, trying something new, helping with setups. His turn-around times are great.”

Hendricks would also like to thank Vacuworx, CK Power, Shorty’s Machine Shop, BP Fab, Esslinger, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Walker Performance Filtration, Eagle Motorsports, Intruder Chassis and Outlaw Wings for their continued support.

INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –

Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.

To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.

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