(Photo by Ron Skinner)
Inside Line Promotions – FORT WORTH, Texas (April 11, 2017) – Tommy Bryant is upbeat after a stout weekend at Tony Stewart’s Texas Sprint Car Nationals, which was hosted by the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track last Friday and Saturday.
Bryant and the SawBlade.com backed Cooper Motorsports team locked directly into the A Main through the heat races and qualifiers each night at the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series doubleheader, which drew approximately 40 race teams.
“Just to make the show both nights with 40 teams, including Tony Stewart and Sammy Swindell, is great,” he said. “We had good speed all weekend. We just need to work on consistency.”
The action began on Friday when Bryant placed sixth in his heat race. The team made some changes to the car before charging from 10th to a third-place finish in a qualifier. That accumulated enough overall points to start eighth in the feature.
“In the heat we weren’t bad; we just had the wrong gear in,” he said. “I was fortunate in the qualifier and that put us in a good spot in the feature.”
Bryant battled for a top five throughout the main event before a last-lap attempt at a pass left him with a sixth-place finish.
“The top four were locked into Saturday’s feature,” he said. “I was all over Danny Jennings for fourth. I kept putting pressure on him hoping he would make a mistake. I chose to race him clean. I could have bumped him out of the way. I was faster than him. On the last lap I tried a last corner pass and slid up the track and lost a spot.
“I had used up all my tires. They were nearly down to the cords at the end of the feature. The track was real abrasive. We went through 10 tires Friday night.”
The team returned to the track on Saturday, when Bryant drew a great pill and rolled off from the pole position in his heat race.
“The driver on the outside jumped the start, but they didn’t call it back and we ended up second,” he said. “In the qualifier the whole front row jumped and they called it back, but decided not to put them back a row and we finished fourth.”
Once again, Bryant’s combined heat race and qualifier points locked him into the main event. Bryant started 16th and battled early with Swindell.
“We had a strong car,” Bryant said. “Brad (Benic) had the car great. Sammy and I raced hard for several laps and we got together and it broke the left front shock off. The car was a handful after that and I just held on.”
Bryant, who ended 14th, said the SawBlade.com backed Cooper Motorsports team will take a couple weeks off before competing on May 5 at Heart O’ Texas Speedway in Waco, Texas, and May 6 at Gator Motorplex in Willis, Texas, with the ASCS Gulf South Region.
“There were a lot of rocks and very hard dirt at Texas and our wings are nearly destroyed,” he said. “My helmet got chewed up pretty good and I have bruises all over. We’re going to regroup and get everything fixed up and hopefully pick up where were left off with the Gulf South Region.”
Bryant won the most recent ASCS Gulf South Region race.
QUICK RESULTS –
April 7 – Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track in Fort Worth, Texas – Heat race: 6 (5); Qualifier: 3 (10); Feature: 6 (8).
April 8 – Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track in Fort Worth, Texas – Heat race: 2 (1); Qualifier: 4 (3); Feature: 14 (16).
SEASON STATS –
8 races, 1 win, 1 top five, 2 top 10s, 3 top 15s, 4 top 20s
UP NEXT –
May 5 at Heart O’ Texas Speedway in Waco, Texas, and May 6 at Gator Motorplex in Willis, Texas, with the ASCS Gulf South Region
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.SawBlade.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SawBladecom
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SawBladecom
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – SawBlade.com
SawBlade.com, which is located in Houston, Texas, is redefining the way industrial, hardware and home use band saw blades are made and distributed. For more information, visit http://www.SawBlade.com.
“There were a lot of NASCAR fans, sponsors and race teams on hand to watch this weekend along with a lot of television exposure,” Bryant said. “Heck, at one time I came up from changing the gears and had a TV camera right in my face. It was great exposure for Cooper Motorsports, SawBlade.com, Dissolvalloy and all our great sponsors.”
Bryant would also like to thank Cooper Motorsports, Dissolvalloy, Momentum Racing Suspensions, Westside Truck and Trailer, Leo’s Automotive and DRII Racing Engines 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 Apr 11, 2017
- Article Date: 4/11/2017 by Inside Line Promotions