(Photo by Rick Rarer)
Inside Line Promotions – KNOXVILLE, Iowa (April 28, 2021) – Justin Henderson and car owner Mike Sandvig recorded their best feature finish of the 2021 season last Saturday with an eighth-place showing at Knoxville Raceway.
“It wasn’t a horrible night, but definitely not what we wanted with starting fourth,” Henderson said. “We’re not quite where we need to be yet, but we are definitely getting closer and we’ll keep working at it.”
Henderson kicked off the evening by laying down a lap of 15.852 seconds in time trials, which was good enough for fifth quickest out of 24 drivers. He followed that up by finishing fourth in a heat race.
“We were fast, but we were still a good bit off from quick time,” he said. “We were good enough to get right in through the heat race, but I kind of measure our program off what the other top guys at Knoxville are doing and we still have a little bit to go to be there.”
Henderson lined up for the feature on the outside of the second row and he fell back to fifth on the opening lap. He capitalized on an early restart to move back into the fourth position, but the handling on the car faded during the second half of the A Main and he settled for eighth.
The top-10 run was the first of the season for Henderson and Sandvig. After two races at Knoxville the team sits sixth in the championship standings.
“The more the fuel load came off the harder it got to control the car in the turns,” he said. “The motor is running really well, but we just need to get better setup-wise and get this thing figured out.”
Next on tap for Henderson and Sandvig will be a return to Knoxville Raceway this Saturday. Henderson is hoping to be able to capitalize on the early speed the team has shown in time trials to be better late in the night.
“I think all together we will be better this weekend, but then again I said that last weekend,” he said. “This is a new car and it definitely takes time to get things figured out and dialed in. We want to be a car that can sit on the podium every week and to do that you need to be good at all times of the night. I’m really looking forward to getting back to the track as I can feel how close we are and it’s just a matter of putting it all together.”
QUICK RESULTS –
April 24 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 5; Heat race: 4 (5); Feature: 8 (4).
SEASON STATS –
4 races, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 1 top 10, 4 top 15s, 4 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa
MEDIA LINKS –
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Henderson_racin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/90850346221/
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Heartland Kitchen Solutions
Heartland Kitchen Solutions is a Pepperidge Farm route that services the Des Moines, Iowa, area large and small stores. Owned by race fan Curt Plough, who is a retired U.S Army First Sergeant, the business provides exceptional cookies, crackers, breads and more that carry a 75-year tradition of feeding families.
“Mike and Justin are kind of a low budget team and I always enjoy being a part of the underdog mentality,” Plough said. “They kind of remind me of myself and I’m happy to help take them over the hump with our support.”
Sandvig would also like to thank Eszlinger Electric, Mamma’s Pizza of Wellsville, Morton Buildings, Emory Transmission, DeBerg Flooring, R2 Enterprise, GRP Motorsports, Winters Performance, Schoenfeld Headers, BK Racing TI Components, SBS FK Shocks, Wings Unlimited, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Hinchman Racewear, Rider Racing Engines, Triple X Race Co., Boji Custom Metal Works and Simpson Race Products 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 28, 2021
- Article Date: 4/28/2021 by Inside Line Promotions