The bad luck seemed to be behind Brian Brown and the Casey’s General Stores/FVP #21 Saturday night at the Knoxville Raceway. A strong top five finish allowed the Grain Valley, Missouri driver to move into second in FVP National Sprint League points as the series heads for Huset’s Speedway near Brandon, South Dakota this Friday and back to Knoxville on Saturday. Wednesday night, Brian will race close to home with the World of Outlaws at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas.
Despite coming out late on a very dry track at Knoxville, you were able to time in second quick.
Our qualifying has been strong all year long, and Saturday was no different. We’ve been working on the car all year. It seems that the #1 car (Justin Henderson) has been better than us most nights. I think we’ve shortened the distance between us, and that’s a good sign.
You started sixth in the heat, and it seemed tougher to pass last week.
We actually passed a few cars on the bottom to start with, going sixth to third. We probably could have pushed the issue and got up to second. But with the one-tire a night rule, you have to think about winning the heat and using your tire up, or saving it for the feature.
The redraw had you starting eighth in the feature.
We got a really good start on the initial start. We went from eighth to third. They called that one back, and didn’t get as good a start the second time. We fell back to sixth, seventh or eighth.
Ian Madsen shot across the track and got into the fence. You barely avoided him.
He got into the fence there. It was really lucky that we didn’t get into him. Hopefully, that bad luck monkey jumped off at that point. We really should have crashed. It’s hard to explain everything that goes on in that moment in a short period of time. You’re trying to slow down, but when you do that, you’re sliding up the track. So you have to stay in the throttle too. I would love to say it was something I did inside the car, but a lot of it is just luck.
The track was one-lane the rest of the way.
That put us into fifth. Just prior to that, we had passed Bronson (Maeschen) for fourth and that was a feat in itself. That caution put us back in fifth, and there really wasn’t a lot of options to pass with the track the way it was. The Dunkin’s normally do a good job with the track. They had a lot of things working against them with the rain and everything during the week.
It seems you shook the bad luck!
It was good to run the 25 laps and not have anything bad happen! When you get a race in, you can look at your car and see what you need to do. You can’t do that when you only get eight laps in.
That bodes well for your three races this week.
We’re probably looking forward to this week more than any this year. We love going to Lakeside. We get family and friends there that normally don’t get to see us race. FVP has a couple hundred people coming as well. We’ll have our FVP scheme for Wednesday. We feel we should have won a couple there. In 2011, we led 26 laps and got beat on a double-file restart late. In 2012, we won the Dash and stuck it in the fence the first lap of the feature.
It’s also a big weekend for the NSL.
We’re looking forward to Huset’s with the NSL on Friday. We’ve been pretty decent when we’ve gone there. I’m sure the guns will be blazing there, especially for the guys in that area. Obviously, we’re looking forward to getting back to Knoxville Saturday as well.
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 led for 26 laps before getting passed on a late restart by Steve Kinser in the 2011 World of Outlaws event at Lakeside Speedway. Cody Darrah was third, ahead of Sammy Swindell and Jason Meyers.
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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 – MC Power
With clients around the Midwest, MC Power has the experience and expertise to deliver cost-saving construction (general contracting, tenant finish/improvement, remodeling, metal building repair, roof leak repairs, concrete, carpentry, painting, drywall, plumbing, etc.), electrical (electrical design-build, electrical assessment, new construction and retrofit, ground testing, power analysis, energy back-up, power generation systems, sign repair, pole light repair, data wiring, panels, outlets, switches, etc.), solar energy (facility assessment, energy assessment, system evaluation, system engineering, financial/proforma development, solar-thermal systems, system installation, roof evaluations, ground or roof mounts, monitoring, maintenance, products & services warranty management, rebate management, etc.) and LED lighting systems (facility assessment, energy assessment, system evaluation, product evaluation, new construction or retrofit, maintenance, products & services warranty management, rebate management, etc.) for virtually any commercial or industrial application. Visit them on the web at www.MCPower.com!
Associate Marketing Partner of the Week – AllDayParts.com!
For more than six decades, their warehouses have quietly supplied professional mechanics with high quality auto parts from the best brands in the industry. Now, for the first time ever, the same level of service is direct to you through AllDayParts.com. Whether you are a shade tree mechanic, or just enjoy turning a wrench on the weekend, our website offers you a staggering 2.5 million parts – all for a fair price.
Brian Brown Racing would like to thank Casey’s General Stores, FVP, Print Place, Searsboro Telephone Company, MC Power, Impact Signs Awnings Wraps / impact4800.com, Champion Brands, Ditzfeld Transfer, Maxim Racing, Smiley’s Racing Products, Enco Tools, Weld Wheels, Housby Trucks, Pro Shocks by 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, www.AllDayParts.com, Tru Square, Jack Links, Deli Express, Snap-On Tools, Rod End Supply, KSE Racing Products, Winters Performance, Cometic Gaskets, Shell Shock, Donovan, ISC Racers Tape, Kinsler Fuel Injection, Racing Optics, Mothers Wax, Hoosier Tires, Klein RV, XYZ Machining, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Red Devil Brakes, Schoenfeld Headers, 6B Apparel, Bosch, Garrett Racing Engines, MSD, Moyle Racing Engines, Fortress Wealth Management, Legacy and Flexzilla for all their support!
Photo: Brian races with Bryan Clauson at Knoxville (Rob Kocak Photo)
- administrator on Jul 02, 2015
- Article Date: 6/30/2015 by Bill Wright