7/22/2014
Sprint Source
Brian Brown – Sioux Center Score Sets Up Final Stage for Knoxville!
It has been a busy couple of weeks for Brian Brown and the Casey’s General Stores/FVP #21 team. After competing in the King’s Royal at Eldora Speedway near Rossburg, Ohio, they scored a victory during JSTS Speedweek last Wednesday at the Sioux Speedway in Sioux Center, Iowa. Three top fives followed last week, including a charge to fifth Saturday at Knoxville Raceway.
I know the opening night of the King’s Royal (July 11) didn’t end the way you wanted it.
We just didn’t get qualified in there (24th quick), and once you do that, you’re scratching and clawing the rest of the night. We had an issue in the heat, and when you’re starting sixth in the B, it’s never easy. We were able to get ourselves in a transfer position though, but coming for the white flag, we blew a right rear tire. It could have been worse…we could have done it in turn three and torn some things up.
You timed in 26th for the King’s Royal, but you did make it through your heat to get in the show.
Ideally, you want to qualify 18th to 24th at the King’s Royal. The heat races there are as tough as any, and we were able to go from fifth to third in the heat.
You started 14th in the feature.
We were flirting with a top ten, running in the eighth to eleventh range most of the way. The last couple of restarts, we didn’t have the starts we needed and we ended up thirteenth. It was a bit of a disappointing weekend, but we didn’t tear anything up.
You won your heat at Sioux Center last Wednesday, and that got things off to a good start.
We’ve had some success there. We won there in 2013 and we were on the podium the year before. We started fourth in the feature, and Wayne (Johnson) and Cole (Wood) were setting a good pace. We were running third at that point.
Did you feel confident that you were going to move forward?
I wasn’t sure what we had for those guys, especially Wayne…he was out there a bit. The yellow came out. Everyone had kind of been running the bottom. We got back going there, and Cole got around the outside of Wayne. That’s when the red came out. At that point I was frustrated, because I thought that may have ruined my chance to win.
But you were able to get into the lead on the restart.
I think (the leaders) thought they better move around a bit in case it was faster up top. I just ran the line they had been running and was able to get the lead. So the red worked out for us.
Thursday at Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids, Iowa, you went from fourth to second in your heat and started the feature fourth.
I kind of settled into third there behind Cole and Gregg Bakker. I thought I may have a shot at winning it, but I hooked a hole wrong in three and four and went over the bank. I fell back to about eighth at that point, and I was playing catchup. We ended up fourth. I was disappointed, because I thought we’d be in contention to win, and that was 100% driver error.
Cole Wood was able to win that one.
I was very proud of Cole. Obviously, he works out of our area and works as hard as he can. He’s getting better and better every week, and his results are showing it.
Friday, you ran at Fairmont Raceway in Minnesota. That’s another track you’ve had success at. You won your heat from fourth and started fourth in the feature.
We were in contention to win at Fairmont. The track had taken rubber, and Lee (Grosz) made one small mistake in traffic. We were able to get by, but I just couldn’t get it turned, and he got back by. From that point, I just went for a couple of “Hail Mary’s” and nearly cleared him one time…it just didn’t work out and we were second.
Knoxville had its toughest 410 field of the year on Saturday. Still, you were the 31st car out and timed in second quick.
That’s a huge part of what we work on all year is the qualifying piece. Charlie Garrett engines with the Maxim chassis work great. I feel our engine program is second to none. Going out late and timing that well gives you confidence if you need to do that at Nationals. Hopefully, we won’t need to though!
The downside of qualifying 2nd quick, is you start your heat sixth needing to make the top five to get in the A. Craig Dollansky, AJ Moeller, Rico Abreu, Ian Madsen and Terry McCarl were in front of you, and you won it!
Looking at the lineup to start the heat, I don’t know if there was a tougher one all year long. I was trying to figure out which of the five I was going to pass to just make the feature. Chad (Morgan), Zach (Thomas) and all the guys had the car spot on. Whenever you can win a heat like that, it’s just a shot in the arm. If we can do it in that heat, we can definitely do it in a couple of weeks.
You started the main event seventh and it seemed like you fell back early.
We took a while to get going. We could run the top and the bottom. We were able to get by Terry (McCarl) and Sammy (Swindell) there and get to sixth. The yellow came out, and I just made a bad decision on the restart. I put myself in a bad spot, and Sammy came along and put me in a really bad spot. I was spinning my tires in the middle of the track. I think we were back in eighth there.
The car took off from that point.
From there, we had to fight back. We were able to get back by Terry and we got by Davey (Heskin). We were able to pass Sammy on the last lap for fifth. It was kind of disappointing, because I felt we had a shot to win before the yellow came out. To race the last half of the race catching up, rather than spending it figuring out how to win is tough. It just wasn’t good race management on my end.
I know the team’s focus is on the Nationals now.
A lot of preparation goes into the 360 and 410 Nationals. We’ll have a full week and a half here to prepare. Even though we’re not racing here and there, we have a lot going on for Knoxville. We’re ready to get after it.
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Article Credit: Bill Wright