(Photo by Brandon Young Photography)
Inside Line Promotions – KNOXVILLE, Iowa (Aug. 10, 2015) – Brandon Hanks deemed this year’s 360 Knoxville Nationals experience as bittersweet.
Hanks and his David Smith Racing team showcased speed, but battled a variety of problems during the 25th edition of the event at Knoxville Raceway last weekend.
“Thursday night we were really, really fast, but we had a lot of problems,” he said.
Hanks kicked off his preliminary night on Thursday by qualifying 29th quickest, which lined him up on the pole of a heat race.
“We won the heat, but we hurt a rear end,” he said. “We’re lucky we finished that heat race. I think if we had one more lap it wouldn’t have made it. We had to change rear ends for the feature and we were rushed between the heats and the features.”
The team made the swap before Hanks had to be pushed onto the track for the main event, which he started on the inside of the 10th row. However, the car was stuck in gear.
“We got going and about four laps into the feature a brake line broke so I didn’t have brakes,” he said. “I was able to pass four or five cars. Then we had a red flag. Since the car wouldn’t come out of gear an official towed me into the pits, which forced me to restart at the rear.”
Hanks picked up a couple of positions following the restart to finish 19th.
“We had a good car, but circumstances kept us from getting a great finish,” he said. “It was a good night. It could have been better, but considering all the drama it could have been worse.”
That relegated Hanks to start on the outside of the front row for Saturday’s C Main.
“The engine was popping,” he said. “I don’t know if we had a spark or a fuel issue. I couldn’t go on the start for nothing. It would just sputter. The car didn’t run well the whole race and I fell back a ton.”
Mechanical problems slowed Hanks during the consolation race, which he ended 11th to cap the weekend.
Hanks will take this weekend off before returning to competition on Aug. 21 at Heart O’ Texas Speedway in Waco, Texas, and Aug. 22 at Cotton Bowl Speedway in Paige, Texas, with the ASCS Gulf South Region.
QUICK RESULTS –
Aug. 6 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 29; Heat race: 1 (1); Feature: 19 (19).
Aug. 8 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – C Main: 11 (2).
SEASON STATS –
29 races, 0 wins, 8 top fives, 15 top 10s, 19 top 15s, 21 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Aug. 21 at Heart O’ Texas Speedway in Waco, Texas, and Aug. 22 at Cotton Bowl Speedway in Paige, Texas, with the ASCS Gulf South Region
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.HanksMotorsports.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Brandon_K_Hanks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hanks-Motorsports/135263046488177
LIVE COVERAGE –
To keep up to speed with Hanks at every Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour event, visit http://www.RacinBoys.com for free, live audio. Additionally, RacinBoys will provide live Pay-Per-View video at select races.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Performance Powder Coating
Performance Powder Coating is a powder coating business owned by the Hanks family. Located in Burlison, Tenn., Performance Powder Coating works on everything from race cars to street vehicles.
“My family owns Performance Powder Coating,” Hanks said. “Without this business and my family I wouldn’t be able to race sprint cars and I wouldn’t know all of the great friends that I have met through racing.”
Hanks would also like to thank David Smith Racing, Howard’s Auto Plus, D&B Farms, Wesmar Racing Engines, Walls Paint and Body Shop, R.E. Enterprises, Penske Racing Shocks, Acme Graphix, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Hinchman Racewear and J-R1 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 Aug 10, 2015
- Article Date: 8/10/2015 by Inside Line Promotions