(Photo by TeeJay Crawford)
Inside Line Promotions – CONCORD, N.C. (Oct. 31, 2016) – Sammy Swindell is eying another Short Track Nationals title.
Swindell will drive for A.G. Rains this Thursday through Saturday at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark., for the 29th annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires. Swindell won the event in 2013, 2011 and 1990.
“We ran there earlier this year and got a second-place finish,” he said. “We had a chance of winning that and it just didn’t work out. There were a couple of things we needed to work on. I feel like we’ll have a better car and it was pretty good then.
“That’s a pretty tight track. I know we can pass cars and we can win races. The part you can’t control is the way that format works out. There’s a lot of things out of our control. The only thing we can control and I know we will is that we’ll have a good car.”
Swindell is coming off a frustrating outing last weekend at the Bad Boy Off Road World of Outlaws World Finals hosted by The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
“The car didn’t have a lot of speed and was kind of loose,” he said. “We tried to make some changes before qualifying. We made it a little bit better, but it wasn’t where we needed. That format is based off qualifying where you have to be up front.”
Swindell and the Blazin’ Racin’ team kicked off the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series event last Thursday by qualifying 21st quickest in their group for Friday’s show and 16th for Saturday’s event.
Swindell rebounded from the qualifying result to charge from seventh to third place in a heat race on Friday to lock the team into the main event.
“We changed the car to where I knew I’d get a good start,” he said. “I was able to do that and nobody got in the way and was able to get right up to third. That made it definitely easier for us as far as not having to go through the other (consolation) races because we’d have been toward the back. I think that was our only chance of making the main was to make sure we transferred through the heat.”
Swindell advanced from his 18th starting position toward the top 10 during the main event before ending 19th.
“The car was better, but we had an issue toward the end that slowed us down,” he said. “I think I lost about five spots. We learned some stuff from that for Saturday.”
The event finale began on Saturday with Swindell maneuvering from eighth to fifth place in a heat race to again secure a lock-in position to the main event. He started the feature on the inside of the 10th row.
“When we got our warm-up lap I could tell the car was a lot better,” he said. “We went in a direction I’d went with at places like that. I felt like the car was really good. We got by a car on the start, but I got held up by a guy in front. Going into turn three I was staying real tight with the tires. You had to slow down to wait and be patient to get a good drive off the exit of the corners. I drove in on the car in front of me. It slipped out and I had to wait. The car behind me turned me and I clipped an infield tire so that was the end of the night.”
Swindell was unable to restart the race following the incident on the second lap.
“I want to thank Todd, Susan and Greg for the opportunity to run with them for a few races this year,” he said.
QUICK RESULTS –
Oct. 28 – The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C. – Qualifying: 21; Heat race: 3 (7); Feature: 19 (18).
Oct. 29 – The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C. – Qualifying: 16; Heat race: 5 (8); Feature: 26 (19).
UP NEXT –
Thursday through Saturday at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark., for the 29th annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.SammySwindell1.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/1sam91
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – John Christner Trucking
Established in 1986, John Christner Trucking has grown into a giant in the trucking industry. For more information, visit http://www.JohnChristner.com.
“John Christner has been huge,” Swindell said. “If it hadn’t been for him coming along we wouldn’t be able to do much of this at all. He’s been a great supporter for us and he’s been a great friend. It was nice of him to do all the things he’s done for us and continues to do for us.”
Swindell would also like to thank Acme Graphix, J. Davidson Scrap Metal Processors, High Performance Lubricants, FK Rod Ends, Simpson Racing Products, Sweet Manufacturing, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Schoenfeld Headers, MyRacePass and Inside Line Promotions 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 Oct 31, 2016
- Article Date: 10/31/2016 by Inside Line Promotions