(Bill W) November 15, 2011 – A pair of podium finishes have put Brady Bacon in good shape heading into the final weekend of racing for the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series. The Broken Arrow, Oklahoma driver will use the momentum of last weekend’s event in Las Cruces, New Mexico towards this weekend’s Western World at the USA Raceway near Tucson, Arizona. Brady will compete in both wing and non-wing events.
Things started with a pole draw in the heat, followed by a win last Friday at the Southern New Mexico Speedway. “The track was really wet and we had to hot lap twice,” says Brady. “It was the same situation as last year. It was definitely beneficial to start on the front row of the heat. We weren’t able to make the redraw, but at least we secured ourselves a spot in the feature.”
The track stayed tacky all night for the prelim. “The track was pretty narrow and fast in the heat,” says Brady. “We started eleventh in the feature, and we had the car as free as we’ve had it all year. It started getting rough in spots on the top, but our car was just about perfect.”
While it was hard to pass for some, Brady surged forward from row six to finish third. “We were best on the bottom in one and two,” he says. “A lot of people were having problems there and pushing up. It got a little slick in the middle, but we were able to get off of there really nice and drive off. In three and four, I was fastest going in on the top and cutting across the racetrack. It was getting technical up there though, and some guys were getting over the racetrack. I decided to stay on the bottom once we were close to a lock-in spot.”
The third place finish gave him the lock-in that he wanted for the finale. “I think we may have had the fastest car, but there were times when it took a few laps to get by some guys just because of the way the track was,” says Brady. “Once we cleared a car, we were able to catch the next one in no time. Getting in the top four and locking ourselves in is always beneficial.”
The track conditions were far different for Saturday’s finale. “They put a little less water on it, and the wind started blowing more and more,” says Brady. “It slicked off quick, and the bottom slicked off to a black in hot laps. The middle to the top was good, but it was hard for the guys to pass in the heats. We were lucky we didn’t have to run one.”
Brady kept his eye on the track as it was reworked. “It had started taking rubber in the heats, and it really laid down in the B’s,” he says. “The wind really picked up, and it would push guys off the edge in three and four. It died down for the feature. They went out and watered it a little bit, and poked some holes in it. That made the track racy for ten or fifteen laps.”
After drawing in row two, Brady raced with Johnny Herrera and Steve Kinser. “It got to be locked down. We started third, and we were running there behind Herrera,” he says. “The track started slicking off and we all started running the top. For about ten laps, I had a really good car. We got by him, and had a battle with Steve before that where we slid each other three or four times.”
When Brady got by the veterans there was one more car to get to. “I was able to clear them, and I got on top of (Matt) Covington,” he says. “There was a caution right when we got to some heavy lapped traffic. He was able to get out there on the restart and it was one-lane at that point with the rubber.”
Brady settled for a solid second place finish. Some misfortune off the track affected things for Jeff Swindell as Brady passed him in the point standings. “Unfortunately, Jeff had a bad weekend and his kid got hurt,” says Brady. “The kid was at the hospital still on Saturday, so it was an unfortunate set of circumstances. I hope he gets well soon.”
Right now, Brady concentrates on the Western World in Tucson this weekend. He has won the non-wing event two years in a row and will run that car on Friday. Thursday he will qualify the wing car and both finales will run Saturday. “We’re looking forward to these next two races,” he says. “We’re running both the wing portion and the non-wing portion. We’d like to do well in both and give us some momentum heading into the off-season here.”
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Follow Brady at his website located at www.BradyBaconRacing.com! Also keep up with him on Facebook and Twitter (which also can be accessed at the website) at the following links…
Twitter Link – http://twitter.com/BradyBacon
Facebook Link - www.facebook.com/pages/Brady-Bacon-Racing/278125555137
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- Admin Account on Nov 16, 2011
- Article Date: 11/15/2011 by Bill W