Brian Brown – Podium Finish with WoO at Sedalia!
(Bill W) April 23, 2012 – Brian Brown and the Brian Brown Racing Casey’s General Stores/FVP #21 team posted a solid third place finish after starting eleventh with the World of Outlaws last Friday night at the Missouri State Fair Speedway in Sedalia. He will run a pair of WoO shows this weekend, as they go to Eagle (NE) Raceway on Friday and Knoxville (IA) Raceway on Saturday.
Brian has always done well in Sedalia. “Going in there, we’ve always had success,” he says. “We have some great partners in the area, like Impact Signs Awnings and Wraps, Ditzfeld Transfer and Champion Brands. Those are three companies that have been with us for a long time. There are a couple of Casey’s down there too, along with some FVP outlets.”
The Grain Valley, Missouri driver put himself in good position after qualifying 10th. “We were looking for a good run,” says Brian. “We came with a fresh motor, and we were the quickest car in our hot lap session. In qualifying, I felt like I missed it just a little bit. If you aren’t quick time, you might as well be somewhere in the 8-12 range. We ended up tenth which put us on the pole of the heat.”
After dashing out to a certain win in the heat, motor trouble arose. “We were leading there with a couple to go,” says Brian. “We had a motor expire, which is definitely not what we wanted. That would have put us up front in the dash, but Chad Morgan and Andy Anderson, Mark Clemons, Greg and some others got us ready to go for the B.”
After the motor change, it was smooth sailing in a B main win. “We felt really good in the B,” says Brian. “Our times were actually two-tenths better than those who were running the dash, so I felt really good about that. I felt we had a car capable of winning.”
Starting eleventh in the main event, Brian worked his way forward. “Our Maxim car was working really well,” he says. “We really didn’t make any adjustments all night long. We were able to make the bottom of one and two work to pass some cars, and we got some on the double-file restarts.”
Soon, he was with the leaders. “We were able to get to third, with about seven to go,” says Brian. “I really felt like we had a shot. We got a yellow with three to go, and (leader) Sammy (Swindell) chose the top. That’s really where I was looking to go too. We got a pretty good restart. I got a good run on them, and then the yellow came out.”
A late opportunity for a win slipped away. “We ran right up on them when Joey (Saldana) was sliding Sammy,” says Brian. “At that point, we started sputtering fuel. One thing we don’t have is the 33-gallon tank. We just have the 28. That’s something we’ll have to invest in. We just had to hold on at that point, and we were far enough from (Donny) Schatz (fourth) that we could do that.”
The third place finish provided a nice rebound from the heat race disaster. “Overall, considering we lost the motor, it was a successful night,” says Brian. “I couldn’t ask any more from our guys. It’s a good sign leading up to the coming weekend with the Outlaws.”
Category: Brian Brown, Driver Updates, News
