Bryan celebrates his first career win at Knoxville (Doug Johnson Photo)
(Bill W) August 20, 2015 – The first sprint car win for Bryan Clauson and the Matt Wood Racing #17w team came at a good place. Finding speed late in their qualifying night, they carried in on to victory on Friday at the Knoxville Nationals. The win locked them into the Nationals championship Saturday where they charged to twelfth. The team plans on running with the FVP National Sprint League Friday in Fairmont, Minnesota and Sunday at Huset’s Speedway in South Dakota.
Despite coming out 40th in the 55-car field in Wednesday’s Nationals qualifier, Bryan timed in 16th quick. “It wasn’t the draw we hoped for, but we were able to go out there and qualify in front of a lot of good cars,” he says. ‘We were kind of in the middle zone where you really need to get through the heat or your work is cut out for you.”
Unfortunately, Bryan would finish sixth in his heat and head to the B. “The way the start played out, the bottom was tough and the top got going,” he says. “It’s hard, especially in the first heat. At that point, the track is as fast as it’s going to be all night. We just didn’t get going.”
The setup was on in the B main, and Bryan drove from eighth to fourth and a transfer spot. “We had a big task ahead of us,” he says. “Shane (Bowers) made some great adjustments on the car and we were able to find our speed. That worked for us the rest of the week.”
Starting 24th in the feature, Bryan was the hard-charger, moving up to finish eleventh. “It was a really good run for us,” he says. “Obviously, the Nationals fields are really deep. Anytime you can pass that many cars, it’s a good night. I feel like we could have even passed a couple more, but I packed the right front before the last restart. All in all, it was a really strong effort for us.”
As the points were tallied, the team was just one spot out of locking into Saturday’s B. That meant starting over on Friday with a chance to finish in the top four and lock into the A. “It was a tough juggle,” says Bryan. “Friday night can go either way. You’re always hoping to be locked in, but we were talking about what we’d do if we were eighth on back (in the B). That just made our decision easy for us and we ran Friday.”
Despite a draw mid-pack on Friday, Bryan was second quick in his group in one-lap qualifying. “Outside of the prelim night, that was the most important lap of the weekend,” he says. “We laid down a good one and set ourselves up for the rest of the night.”
He would win his heat after starting fourth. “Everything that went wrong for us on Wednesday, went right for us on Friday,” says Bryan. “We were able to get a good start and got to second. We kind of worked on Parker (Price-Miller) and got by him with a couple laps to go.”
That set Bryan up inside row two for the feature, with the top four locking themselves into Saturday’s championship. “We didn’t get the greatest of starts,” he says. “We fell back to fourth, and that’s a tricky position to be in. You’re trying to be conservative and not lose your spot, but you always want more if you can. Our car was just really good. We were able to get some good runs. We got by Danny (Dietrich) and Brent (Marks) there and got to Billy (Alley). I didn’t quite have the run I wanted, but we were getting close to traffic and I made a move. We were able to get going from there.”
He would lead the remaining laps to take his first sprint car win in the 17w and his first career Knoxville win. “I felt like we’ve been close all year long,” says Bryan. “I would have bet our first win was not going to come at Knoxville! Obviously, we found some speed there during the week. It was really cool. We have a young team, and we’ve been doing a lot of learning. To get a win on that stage, with obviously a lot on the line was pretty special.”
Bryan’s start in the Knoxville Nationals main event was his second in a row. He would finish 12th after starting 16th. “I think it was a little different (this year),” he says. “I was more prepared this year to be in it. We had a really good run. We were able to get up to eighth at one point, and I felt we had a top five car. Our car just wasn’t as good after the red. We made a pretty good run through the field, but we faded a little at the end. All in all, I feel it was a great run for us and showed that we belonged.”
Matt Wood Racing would like to thank: Elk Grove Ford, Quick Lane, Fuel Safe, Schoenfeld and Vortex Wings!
To follow the Matt Wood Racing’s progress online, visit www.ColeWoodRacing.com!
Follow Bryan Clauson online at www.BryanClauson.com!
Bryan celebrates his first career win at Knoxville (Doug Johnson Photo)
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