Brian Brown – Double the Fun at Knoxville!
(Bill W) May 19, 2014 – For the second time in his career, Brian Brown swept both the 410 and 360 features at the Knoxville Raceway last Saturday night. Neither win was easy for the Casey’s General Stores/FVP #21 team, as he had to start eighth (410) and ninth (360) to get the wins. This weekend, the Grain Valley, Missouri driver is planning two events. On Saturday, the team will return to Knoxville in the 410 before finishing up the weekend on Sunday at the I-80 Speedway near Greenwood, Nebraska with the Nebraska 360 Sprints series.
In the 410 class, you were able to grab your first quick time of the season.
We hadn’t qualified the best, and last week, we kind of went back to the drawing board. We looked through our notes, and made sure we did everything we could do to get qualified in. A lot of that is Charlie Garrett who does our engines. He does a phenomenal job.
Again, you started sixth in your heat and with only the top five making it out, it’s tough. You were able to move up to third.
The heats are as tough as can be this year at Knoxville. We had a heck of time getting to fifth there for a while. The key is, you have to run as hard as you can, not tear up, and not use your tires. You have to weigh your options, see where you’re at, and race smart. We were able to finish third there, and it was a really good test session for the car.
Starting eighth in the feature, you were able to use that test to move forward early.
Going in, I didn’t know what to expect. I thought a top three would be a pretty good night. We got a really good start, and went from eighth to fourth. I got messing around on the bottom for a couple of laps, and (Terry) McCarl and (Craig) Dollansky got back by me.
It seems like every week, you are going back and forth with those guys.
As the race went on, Terry, Dollansky and (Mark) Dobmeier were going at it, and I was kind of in the thick of that. I got to watching those guys, and our car was getting better as the feature went on. I got to battling with Terry. That has to be good for the fans. I want to beat him as much as anybody, and I’m sure that’s true with him. We race each other hard and clean.
It seemed your car got faster as the race went on.
Once we got by Terry, we were able to get to fourth. We were able to pass Davey (Heskin) on a restart. We kind of ran the top two down and I got a little overexcited driving-wise. I made three or four bad laps, and if it wasn’t for the last caution, I felt we gave an opportunity to win away.
You did get that last caution though. What was going through your mind sitting in third with a green, white checker finish ahead of you?
I had three or four laps to think about what I was going to do. You need to get off of four without spinning your tires. Then you have a split decision to make a decision and react to where the car in front of you goes. You have to make something happen right away in turns one a two.
You definitely did that. You had the lead within a lap.
It played out kind of like it thought I would. We’re not racing for a championship, we’re racing for wins. So I was going wherever they weren’t. If they went one way, I was going the other. They left a lane for me on the top, and I was able to clear Bronson (Maeschen) in one and two. I got such a great run off of two, I didn’t really expect to pass (leader) Lynton (Jeffrey) that early, it just happened. Once we were out front, I think it showed how good we were.
Qualifying didn’t go as well with the 360’s. You were ninth quick, but you bounced back to win your heat.
We don’t seem to qualify as well with the 360’s. I don’t know if it’s because we do some things we do with the 410 that we shouldn’t do with the 360 or what. That will bite us in the bigger races. We made some changes before the heat, and I think we were as good as we could get.
What was your outlook going into the feature?
Starting ninth with only fifteen laps…I wasn’t confident that it was enough to pass the quality of cars that we had in front of us. There were some studs up there that can get it done anywhere in the country.
It didn’t take you long to get in the top five.
We were able to sneak by some guys early and get racing. Once we got to third or fourth there, I was watching the scoreboard a little bit. Laps six through ten was where we really came on. I passed Jack (Dover) for second and I was able to pass Russ (Hall) for the lead. But then the yellow came out and that put us behind him.
Did you like your chances of getting the lead on the restart?
A lot of times you’ll lose those races, because the leader can make an adjustment. Russ kind of took the line I’d been running (low), so I had to find something that I thought was going to work. I didn’t get going like I thought I would. I had to change the way I was getting through the corners, and we were able to get by him with a couple laps to go.
It had to feel good to win from the fifth row.
I don’t care what you normally run, running with the 360 class at Knoxville is as tough as any of them. We have some really good drivers and teams there, and to start ninth and be able to win is really special. It was as fun a night as we’ve had as a team in a long time.
Does this get you back in the groove in preparing for August’s Knoxville Nationals?
I still don’t feel like we’re as good as we were last year at this time, but we’re gaining every week. We’re trying things, and every week, my confidence is getting higher. It’s a work in progress, but I think we’re on the right track for where we need to be.
What did you take away from Saturday night?
I’m proud for the guys on our team, Chad Morgan, Zach Thomas, Greg King, grandpa George (Lasoski) and everyone. It’s great to see my wife and my mom and their excitement afterwards. It’s awesome to visit with the fans afterwards and get the texts and calls from around the country from our friends and partners. At the end of the day, it wouldn’t be near as fun if you didn’t have people to share it with. That’s what’s great about our sport.
Category: Brian Brown, Driver Updates
