Brian Brown at the Iowa State Fair Speedway (Chuck Stowe - Finish Line Photo)
(Bill W) August 29, 2016 – Brian Brown and the Casey’s General Stores/FVP #21 team finished up their campaign at Knoxville Raceway Saturday with a solid second place finish. The night went well enough to also secure the second place standing in season points. This weekend, the Grain Valley, Missouri driver will be pulling double duty at the Jackson Nationals at Jackson Motorplex in Minnesota. The ASCS National main event will pay $10,000 to win, and the NSL feature winner will be awarded $25,000 in Sunday’s finales.
You had quick time for a while Saturday, but settled for second quick. You entered the night just 20 points ahead of Ian Madsen for second in the standings.
Maybe I should have run the bottom in both corners on both laps. Still, it was a good qualifying effort. Charlie Garrett does a phenomenal job with our engines, and continues to work to make our qualifying better every night out, fitting what we do with my driving style and with the car.
Despite the track staying fast, you were able to go from sixth to second in the heat.
We got a good start there. We were trying to score as many points as we could all night long. Finishing second in the points was important to us. Ian was in our heat race. We knew we needed to pass every car we could and stay in front of him. We were able to get up to second. We were running Matt (Moro) down at the end, but we couldn’t finish it off. I was happy with our run, because the track was still pretty narrow.
It was a good heat after struggling at the Nationals.
We’ve been trying to figure out where our downfalls have been at Knoxville and work on those to get better. Sometimes at the Nationals, you work out of a box. You don’t want to work on anything, because you don’t want to get away from the box. We had a different mentality this week, and we stretched the box a little bit. Every time we hit the track, we tried to make the right adjustments.
That put you outside row two for the feature.
We were beside Danny (Lasoski), and we were able to get by him on the first start. I felt that was going to be a crucial spot. Unfortunately, that didn’t go, and we didn’t get going as well on the second start. He was able to get in front of us. We were able to get into fourth, and then sneak by Brooke (Tatnell). It looked like Craig (Dollansky) and Danny were going to play bumper cars for a bit. They were carrying on, and I thought I might win by default. Danny was able to sneak by, and we just kind of stayed in the hunt. They had a late yellow, and we really nailed the bottom of one and two to get by Craig for second.
It looked like you had a real chance to win it at that point.
I knew I had one shot at Danny. I just didn’t get him cleared enough, and he heard me. Once you let a guy like him hear you, they start changing their line and that makes our job tough. We ended up second, and that nailed down second in points.
That was a great finish for you, considering you missed one night of racing.
In fifteen nights, I think we had ten podiums and three wins. We had two DNF’s, one for a part failure, and one for a crash. It may have not been a championship season for us, but in my opinion, it was one of the more consistent seasons we’ve ever had at Knoxville. The Nationals didn’t go as we hoped, but it felt like we were in contention to win every time we went to Knoxville. It’s something to build on for next year.
You will be doing double duty at this weekend’s Jackson Nationals.
We made a deal with Matt Wood to run his Ford again this weekend. We’re looking forward to that. The Jackson Nationals is an event. We go to a lot of races, but that is an event. With the 360 paying $10,000 and the 410 paying $25,000, we’re excited. We were in contention for the $20,000 to win race there in July, and we were in contention last year at the Jackson Nationals. We feel like we’ve got some good notes going in. It’s going to be a little more work for Chad (Morgan) and Michael (Williams), but we have the team to get it done and contend for a win in both classes.
Follow Brian on the Web, Twitter and Facebook!
Follow Brian at his website located at www.BrianBrownRacing.com!
Also keep up with FVP, Casey’s and Brian on Facebook and Twitter at the following links…
Twitter Links – @BrianBrown21, @FVPRacing, @CaseysGenStores
Facebook Links
Brian Brown Racing – www.facebook.com/pages/Brian-Brown-Racing/200630163294222
Casey’s General Stores – www.facebook.com/pages/Caseys-General-Stores/112073528804354
FVP Racing - http://www.facebook.com/FVPRacing?ref=ts&fref=ts
Other Web site info
Casey's: www.caseys.com
FVP: www.fvpparts.com
Brown’s Bits
Brian concluded his season at Knoxville second in the points. Two DNF’s and one night missed hurt him, but he racked up three wins, ten podium finishes and twelve top fives in fifteen feature runs. He also set quick time twice.
About Casey’s General Stores
Casey’s General Stores is a Fortune-500 company (NASDAQ CASY) operating over 1,850 convenience stores in 14 states through the Midwest. Known for its “Homemade To-Go” pizza, sandwiches, donuts and bakery items, Casey’s strives to consistently deliver quality gas, fresh kitchen-prepared food, clean environments and friendly service at every retail location. Casey’s is currently the 5th largest c-store chain and fifth largest pizza chain in the United States.
About FVP
Built on a commitment to quality and delivered with unmatched service, FVP is the confident solution for all of your OEM needs. FVP products are engineered to provide customers with OE quality products that are equal or superior in performance to the major national brands at a competitive price. FVP is proud to carry a full line of high quality oil, air, cabin air and fuel filters, powerful batteries for multiple applications including cars, trucks, SUV’s, commercial, boats and other specialty vehicles as well as automotive chemicals and oil, antifreeze, DEF, hub assemblies, radiators and condensers. To learn more about FVP or to find out where you can have FVP products installed in your vehicle, visit FVPparts.com! FVP…The Confident Solution.
Marketing Partner of the Week – Smiley’s Race Products
Smileys Racing Products and Hoosier Tire Southwest have been in the racing business for 30 years in the Dallas, Fort Worth area. Visit Smiley’s the next couple of weeks, either in Kennedale, at the showroom store in Mesquite, or at the racetracks. All employees at Smiley's Racing Products and Hoosier Tire Southwest are directly involved with race teams either as owners, drivers, pit crew members etc. What this means to you our customers is racing advice that has been tested on the track first, and then we pass our findings on to you our customers.
From parts and tires to complete race cars, Smiley’s Racing Products and Hoosier Tire Southwest is ready to help you get to the checkered flag first. All aspects of our business can be seen at www.SmileysRacing.com.
Click on catalog and put your information in and we will send you a catalog free of charge.
Associate Marketing Partner of the Week – BIGS Sunflower Seeds
The BIGS Brothers are crazy about roasting great-tasting sunflower seeds – and nothing beats the simple goodness of BIGS®. That’s because we select only the biggest and best seeds. Then we flavor them with your favorite ingredients and fire roast them the BIGS signature way. Our seeds are always bigger, always better. We guarantee it – one seed at a time. Tear open a bag and Unleash the Flavor!
Choose from our unique, premium flavors such as Vlasic® Dill Pickle, Bacon Salt® Sizzlin' Bacon and FRANK'S® REDHOT® Buffalo Wing! And check out the newest all-star flavor in the BIGS Dugout – Sea Salt & Black Pepper.
Tear open a bag and bring on the good times by the handful! It’s cool, we’ll roast more. Visit us online at www.BIGS.com!
Brian Brown Racing would like to thank Casey’s General Stores, FVP, Wormall Civil, Searsboro Telephone Company, MC Power, Impact Signs Awnings Wraps / impact4800.com, Champion Brands, Ditzfeld Transfer, Maxim Racing, Smiley’s Racing Products, Weld Wheels, Housby Trucks, Next LED Sports, Schure Built Suspension, Arctic Cat, Lincoln Electric, K&N, www.hostiowa.net, FSR Race Products, TI64, Fuel-Safe Tanks, Wolfe Eye Clinic, Bell Helmets, Hinchman Uniforms, CP Pistons, Carrillo Rods, Vortex Wings, Penray, All Pro Cylinder Heads, Butler Built Seats, AkzoNobel, Kenny's Components, Tru Square, Snap-On Tools, Rod End Supply, KSE Racing Products, Winters Performance, Cometic Gaskets, Shell Shock, Donovan, ISC Racers Tape, Kinsler Fuel Injection, Racing Optics, Hoosier Tires, Klein RV, Duke’s Meats, BIGS Sunflower Seeds, NGK Spark Plugs, XYZ Machining, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Red Devil Brakes, Schoenfeld Headers, 6B Apparel, Garrett Racing Engines, MSD and Fortress Wealth Management for all their support!
(Chuck Stowe Images/Finish Line Photo)
Bill W Media
Monroe, IA USA
Twitter: @BillWMedia
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