Well its the fourth race of the year and we head to the midwest to take on the 1.5 miler in Kansas. With three straight top 10 finishes our confidence is ready to be humbled by a true drivers track. What makes Kansas unique? the fast line is up against the wall and you gotta be able to handle the throttle at 90-100% inches from the wall, something I am not comfortable with. With our practice we saw that the tire fall off for those on the high line is particularly brutal, so we plan on the opposite. Save the tires, run low and once the tire fall off starts, pick em off.
Lap 1 – Qualifying in 14th we know that we can compete with the guys around us, but the game plan remains..surive and save the tires. We get through the first lap clean.
Lap 10 – All green flag racing we are battling with the 35, 37, 44, 37 and sit in p17. Westwood leads the pack.
Lap 16 – Little scary moment as we try to pass the 39 and the 44 is closer than we would like, but we move up to p15.
Lap 20 – we start to see out strategy work out. We are running faster lap times than the leaders and begin to catch the top 10.
Lap 28 – we battle the 67 of Dave Hunt our Daytona winner when a truck spins in turn 1. Fortunately he stays low on the track and we don’t get hit. Caution flies. We pit and gain 3 spots up to P10.
Lap 34 – Knowing what we know about our long run speed, our strategy remains the same as we approach the half way point. We can make it from here on fuel so if we can save save save, we wont have to pit if we stay green the rest of the way. Green Flag flies p10.
Lap 38 – We continue to save but its hard to do so when stuck in traffic. Entering turn 1 the 13 gets into the corner a little hot and catches our left rear, caution flies as a big wreck ensues. We exit pit road multiple laps down.
Lap 44 – We are back green but the car just doesn’t have the speed it did have.
Lap 55 – we pit for a green flag stop to fix our remaining damage when the 5 and 51 get into eachother and bring out the caution, the 51 day is over.
Our day goes on to be some casual riding around as we finish 25th and 6 laps behind the leaders. Its not what we thought it would be like early in the race but we live and learn and head on to Texas. Enjoy the the last few laps as Westwood secures his first victory of the season.
