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Brian Brown – World Finals Podium Rounds Out Season!

Brian Brown and the Casey’s General Stores/FVP #21 team rounded out a great season with a podium finish at Saturday night’s World Finals for the World of Outlaws at the Dirt Track in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Grain Valley, Missouri driver had driven from row ten to finish twelfth on Friday.

On Thursday, you qualified 11th quick for Friday’s event and sixth quick for Saturday’s finale.

We were a little disappointed to be honest, especially with our qualifying for Friday. It was below our expectations for sure. It’s really important to put yourself on the front row of that heat to have a good shot at finishing in the top two and getting to the Dash.

You started fourth in Friday’s heat, and had a good battle with Donny Schatz early on.

We were able to pass (Donny) Schatz and get into second there for a while. He ended up getting back by. On the double-file restart, I should have been lined up on the outside, but I was on the inside. That hurt, and Shane (Stewart) got us at the end and we were fourth.

That put you in row two of the B, but you were able to win that.

We had trouble getting going. The first start didn’t go, and then Sam (Hafertepe) and Paige (Polyak) got together. I actually was taking it a little easier than I should have been. I thought something might happen between them there, and we got lucky to get up there. Unfortunately, Paige had some damage to her car. We were able to win it, and at that point, we were confident, but we were buried in the back.

You were able to charge through the field and did a nice job.

We had a really good car. We got into the top ten there, but with five or six to go, we got into an infield tire. That broke our left front shock and we lost a couple spots and ended up twelfth. Still, we felt good about a car that was capable of running about eighth after starting in row ten.

Being sixth quick for Saturday’s program helped your position and you started outside row one for your heat. That put you in good position.

We started in a good spot, but we had Greg Wilson and Brad Sweet behind us. We had to work to finish second there and get in the Dash. We got lucky with the pill draw and won the Dash from the front row.

What did you think of your chances starting from the pole? You won this race three years ago.

We felt like we had a good opportunity to win. We had a good race with Ryan Smith there for a couple laps. We were able to get to the lead. We had a double-file restart on lap four. Hindsight is 20/20, but maybe I should have picked a different line. Donny got by us there and we had a good race for a couple of laps sliding back and forth. That was fun.

You ended up in a three-way battle for the lead at that point.

We had another restart and it was (Donny’s) turn to pick a line. He picked the outside and set a good pace. I felt we were right there with him. We had a couple opportunities, but they weren’t quite good enough to make a pass. (David) Gravel got a run at us on another restart and we were third. I still felt we had a car capable of winning. We were within three or four car lengths at the end. Gravel was in my line and we were on him. He got by Donny and we were within three feet of Donny. We were right there and finished third.

You ended the year on a strong note.

It was a good finish to the season. We’re looking forward to next year. We have all the same partners back, and Chad (Morgan) and Michael (Williams) are back to. All our equipment will be the same, so we’re really looking forward to continuing with our momentum.

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