(Photo by DB3 Imaging)
Inside Line Promotions – OSKALOOSA, Iowa (Aug. 11, 2015) – Sammy Swindell has great momentum entering the 55th annual FVP Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s General Store this week.
Swindell has earned 10 top 10s in his last 11 races, including six with CJB Motorsports – the team he will compete for this Wednesday through Saturday at Knoxville Raceway during the premier sprint car event.
“So far our record with this car shows we can qualify well and race good, too,” he said. “I think we’ve got as good of a shot as anybody. A lot of things have to fall in place for you though.”
Swindell is coming off a busy weekend, which began last Friday at Knoxville Raceway where he piloted a car for Donnie Cooper during the 25th annual Arnold Motor Supply 360 Knoxville Nationals.
“The car was pretty good most of the night,” Swindell said. “We worked at it pretty hard to get it a bit better. Overall I think we had a really good night. You can always say we needed this or could have done this, but that’s how racing is. If you don’t strive to be better or look at options or situations to be better your chance of winning is not near as high.”
Swindell qualified 11th quickest and he advanced from fourth to second place during a heat race. That locked him into the feature, which he started on the outside of the front row.
Swindell spent most of the race in third place before his car came alive in the closing laps. He executed a slide job for the runner-up position in the final circuits, which made him the fifth highest points earner following preliminary action.
That lined Swindell up on the inside of the third row for Saturday’s $10,000-to-win main event.
“It wound up being the race track had one lane being better,” he said. “It made it difficult because you had to run that one lane and it was hard to pass someone. That’s some of the things you run into in the 360s with it being heavier and having less power.”
Swindell maintained fifth place throughout the main event before ending fifth, which marked his 12th top five of the season.
Swindell returned to Knoxville Raceway on Sunday for the 4th annual Capitani Classic, which he tackled with CJB Motorsports. Swindell timed in third quickest, finished third in a heat race and placed fifth in the pole shuffle to start the main event fifth.
“Going into the first corner I ran up on a car in front of me and slipped out,” he said. “I fell back to ninth or 10th, but was able to come back and pass a lot of good cars. I had a really good car the second half of that race.”
Swindell posted a fourth-place result to cap the night.
The weekend concluded on Monday at Southern Iowa Speedway during the FVP National Sprint League’s Front Row Challenge. Swindell qualified third quickest, but finished sixth in a heat race – one spot out of locking into the feature. He then ended second in the B Main to transfer into the main event.
“The track was really fast and it wound up being hard to pass people,” he said. “The straightaways there are fairly narrow so it makes your opportunity getting in and getting off the corners kind of tight. I felt like I was faster than cars ahead of me, but passing them was pretty difficult.”
Swindell scored a seventh-place finish to garner his 20th top 10 of the season.
QUICK RESULTS –
Aug. 7 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 11; Heat race: 2 (4); Feature: 2 (2).
Aug. 8 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Feature: 5 (5).
Aug. 9 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 3; Heat race: 3 (4); Pole Shuffle: 5 (5); Feature: 4 (5).
Aug. 10 – Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa – Qualifying: 3; Heat race: 6 (6); B Main: 2 (1); Feature: 7 (9).
SEASON STATS –
30 races, 2 wins, 13 top fives, 20 top 10s, 27 top 15s, 28 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Wednesday through Saturday at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, for the 55th annual FVP Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s General Store
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.SammySwindell1.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/1sam91
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Simpson Race Products
Simpson Race Products is an American motor sports parts business that supplies gloves, helmets, harness systems, driver’s suits, head restraints, shoes and more ranging from racers at local tracks to international teams. For more information, visit http://www.SimpsonRaceProducts.com.
“Simpson Race Products has been with me since 1974,” Swindell said. “They’ve been keeping me safe for more than 40 years.”
Swindell would also like to thank John Christner Trucking, J. Davidson Scrap Metal Processors, Energy Release, Sweet Manufacturing, FK Rod Ends, High Performance Lubricants, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, HRP Wings, Schoenfeld Headers, Kistler Racing Engines 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 Aug 11, 2015
- Article Date: 8/11/2015 by Inside Line Promotions