(Photo by Joe Orth Photos)
Inside Line Promotions – BRANDON, S.D. (June 15, 2015) – Sammy Swindell will continue to pilot the Jason Johnson Racing entry the next two weeks until Johnson can return to the cockpit.
Swindell has guided the team to a trio of top-10 finishes in five races with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, including two seventh-place results last weekend.
“Friday and Saturday were better (than the previous weekend),” he said. “We made a little setup mistake Friday or else we could have had a better run, but just to be in the dash two nights in a row says a lot.”
Swindell opened last weekend’s tripleheader on Friday at Crawford County Speedway in Denison, Iowa, where he qualified fourth quickest before advancing from fourth to second place in a heat race. That locked him into the dash, where he again maneuvered from fourth to second to garner the outside front row starting position for the main event.
“We had the car way too tight in the feature,” he said. “I was able to run good when we were out by ourselves. When we got into traffic I really struggled with it. We also had a right rear tire shrink on us and that just upset the car. We showed a lot of speed. It was a pretty good night.”
Swindell battled inside the top five for most of the race before scoring a seventh-place finish.
The team ventured to Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, on Saturday for the Mediacom Shootout, which Swindell began by qualifying 10th quickest -- fourth in his group. His third-place finish in a heat race helped him advance into the dash thanks to the World of Outlaws new race format.
“We made a little change for the heat and were pretty good,” he said. “They were in a hurry because of the weather and we were in the last heat. As soon as we got in from the heat I had to get back in for the dash. We made a couple of changes in a hurry and it wasn’t the right way to go, but it showed us the direction we needed to be in.”
Swindell dropped from third to seventh place in the dash, which lined him up on the inside of the fourth row for the main event. However, the feature was delayed approximately three hours because of rain, which was followed by a thick fog that engulfed the track during the main event.
“The car was really good in the main,” he said. “I got messed up on the first lap and lost about four spots. On a track that narrow and fast I drove around some really good cars to get the positions back in the short 15-lap race we had. I was hoping it would keep going and we could have got a few more spots. It was so fast and there was just enough room to pass. It was hard to pass, but there was enough room to do that. There’s not a lot of times you get to run the main event and it’s that quick.”
Swindell finished seventh during the feature, which was deemed official after 15 laps because of a lack of visibility.
The weekend concluded on Sunday at Huset’s Speedway, where Swindell qualified 31st quickest. He rallied from 11th to seventh place in a heat race and from 13th to fifth during the Last Chance Showdown to lock into the 23rd starting position for the main event.
“That put us at the back and it wound up being a little train going around there,” he said. “There wasn’t much room to pass. At the end we had a few people get aggressive and got bumped out of the way. It was a shame to get beat up when you’re running in the position I was that late in the race, but that happens in racing.”
He was credited with a 23rd-place result.
Swindell and Jason Johnson Racing will compete this Tuesday at Granite City Speedway in Sauk Rapids, Minn., Friday at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., and Saturday at Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron, S.D., with the World of Outlaws.
QUICK RESULTS –
June 12 – Crawford County Speedway in Denison, Iowa – Qualifying: 4; Heat race: 2 (4); Dash: 2 (4); Feature: 7 (2).
June 13 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 10; Heat race: 3 (3); Dash: 7 (3); Feature: 7 (7).
June 14 – Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D. – Qualifying: 31; Heat race: 7 (11); B Main: 5 (13); Feature: 23 (23).
SEASON STATS –
13 races, 1 win, 5 top fives, 9 top 10s, 11 top 15s, 11 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Tuesday at Granite City Speedway in Sauk Rapids, Minn., Friday at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., and Saturday at Dakota State Fair Speedway in Huron, S.D., with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.SammySwindell1.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/1sam91
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“I’ve run some of the High Performance Lubricants products this past year and the product we put in the rear end and the steering made it run cooler,” Swindell said. “We did a bunch of oil analysis before and after and found some great things using High Performance Lubricants.”
Swindell would also like to thank John Christner Trucking, J. Davidson Scrap Metal Processors, Energy Release, Sweet Manufacturing, Simpson Race Products, FK Rod Ends, Sweet Manufacturing, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, HRP Wings, Schoenfeld Headers and Driver Websites 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 by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
- Shawn Miller on Jun 15, 2015
- Article Date: 6/15/2015 by Inside Line Promotions