(Image: Cheryl Sluka)
26 Promotions – Casa Grande, AZ – (May 25, 2018) – Dale Eliason Jr posted his sixth podium finish of the year Saturday night at Central Arizona Speedway.
“We knew going into the weekend that we had a nice points lead so we decided this would be a good time to get our second car dialed in,” said Eliason Jr. “We had success with this car winning main events on Canyon’s big track and at Show Low last year but didn’t have good results on the small track at Canyon or at the Tulsa Shootout.”
A quick shake down of the car in the pits lead to a minor thrash session for the Eliason Motorsports team as they realized that the young driver had grown a few inches since the Shootout back in December.
“We arrived at Central Arizona Speedway unloaded the car, and my dad wanted me to take the car thru the pits and burnish in some new brakes he had put on the car,” he explained. “After doing so and returning to our trailer I was concerned with how I felt in the car. The seat was too high and the pedals and shifter were less than comfortable. We didn’t have a lot of time to make major changes on the car, but my dad was able to remove the bottom seat cushion so I wasn’t looking right into the visor while I removed a spacer from the accelerator pedal to give my right leg a little more room so it wasn’t hitting the power steering box. I sat in the car after we made the changes and felt good enough to continue with mud packing and hot laps.”
The Iceman’s night officially kicked off with heat race action where he held off Martin Sprau to pick up the heat race victory from the pole, earning him enough points to make the six-car feature invert.
Starting third in the 20-lap event, Eliason Jr moved up to second on the drop of the green flag. Missing a couple of opportunities to take the top spot running on the inside of Martin, the top three cars would battle for position throughout the race with Eliason Jr falling back to third after a spirited battle with Jarrett Martin. Jr would re-take the position late in the race and begin to reel in Martin in the closing laps but would run out of time bringing home his eighth top-five finish of the year.
“Considering the problems we had when we first got to the track I was pretty happy with how the car handled,” he said. “I think my Dad figured some things out on this car and will make some additional adjustments to the seat, shifter and pedals before the next race.”
Eliason Jr takes a commanding lead in the Power 600 Series points when the series returns to action on June 2nd at Central Arizona Speedway.
Dale Eliason Jr would like to thank Affordable Powder Coatings & Affordable Extreme Coatings, Custom Caretaking Plus INC, Guhl Motors, Industrial Machinery Services, PMP Chassis, Hamblin Motorsports, Radical Race Gear, and T & K Repair for their continued support.
Results
Heat: 1st -> 1st
Feature: 3rd -> 2nd
Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaleEliasonJr
Website: https://www.DaleEliasonJr.com
- Darren Ward on May 25, 2018
- Article Date: 5/25/2018 by 26 Promotions