(Photo by Scott Frazier)
Inside Line Promotions – LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Oct. 27, 2014) – Kevin Swindell had a consistent return to sprint cars during one of the premier events of the season last weekend.
Swindell, who hadn’t raced on dirt in more than two months, powered to a fifth-place finish driving for Donnie Cooper during the 27th annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals Presented by Hoosier Tires at I-30 Speedway.
“I think we were better than that,” he said. “It took us too long to get the balance right and then we had a little mess up on the preliminary night. I couldn’t get dug far enough out of the hole after that.”
The weekend kicked off at the quarter-mile oval last Wednesday with the Short Track Nationals Open. Swindell advanced from third to second place in his heat race, which relegated him to a B Main.
“We were pretty decent in the heat race and just ran out of time to get to the guy for the lead,” he said. “Then we won the B Main pretty easy.”
That lined Swindell up on the outside of the ninth row for the main event.
“We got it pretty close in the feature,” he said. “There really weren’t that many cars able to pass anybody. Everybody was putt-putting on the bottom. I just ran through the slick in the middle.”
Swindell powered from 18th to finish sixth, which earned him the Hard Charger Award for passing the most cars.
He returned to I-30 Speedway for Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour preliminary action on Thursday.
After winning his heat race from the outside of the front row, Swindell finished fifth in a qualifier. That earned him enough overall points to start fifth in the main event.
“We tried to make it better for the qualifier and made it worse,” he said. “We got to chasing our tail for the feature. We didn’t get it as good as we needed. I maintained at the beginning and it finally slicked off at the end. We got going a little bit better.”
Swindell spent most of the race battling for a top five, but he was caught up in an incident with approximately three laps remaining.
“I got into turn three and another driver tried to change his mind at the last second and hung himself in the slick,” he said. “I was already committed to going to the top. I skated in and got my right rear hung on his car.”
Swindell, who was forced to restart at the back of the pack following the collision, rallied to finish 12th.
He opened Saturday’s finale by winning a last chance qualifier, which, added to his preliminary points, locked him into the $15,000-to-win main event. He lined up on the inside of the seventh row for the 40-lap feature.
“It was hard to pass anybody, especially if there were guys racing side by side in front of you,” he said. “I had two that were side by side the first 10 or 12 laps in front of me. I wasn’t able to go anywhere.”
The race track started to slick off midway through the main event and that’s when Swindell was able to start moving toward the front.
“I didn’t have the race track until too many laps into the race,” he said. “I think we were definitely one of the best, if not the best, at the end.”
Swindell maneuvered from 13th to a fifth-place result, which marked his ninth top five of the season.
QUICK RESULTS –
Oct. 22 – I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark. – Heat race: 2 (3); B Main: 1 (1); Feature: 6 (18).
Oct. 23 – I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark. – Heat race: 1 (2); Qualifier: 5 (6); Feature: 12 (5).
Oct. 25 – I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark. – Last chance qualifier: 1 (2); Feature: 5 (13).
SEASON STATS –
29 races, 1 win, 9 top fives, 13 top 10s, 19 top 15s, 21 top 20s
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.SwindellMotorsports.citymaker.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevinSwindell
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevinSwindellRacing
VIDEO –
Click on the link for highlights of Swindell’s first victory of the season at 81 Speedway on March 29: http://vimeo.com/90509051
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“ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems has some of the safest and most comfortable safety equipment available,” Swindell said. “I encourage everyone to give the ButlerBuilt team a call to learn more about being safe and comfortable in a race car.”
Swindell would also like to thank Mike Curb and Curb Records, Arai Helmets, Racing Optics and John Christner Trucking for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program and to join Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or InsideLinePromotions@gmail.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Oct 27, 2014
- Article Date: 10/27/2014 by Inside Line Promotions