Wednesdays with Wayne – Aiming for Third 360 Nationals Crown!
(Bill W) July 31, 2013 – The biggest time of the year in sprint car racing means the Wayne Johnson Racing #77x team is getting busy. Wayne will be aiming for his third career win in the 360 Nationals at Knoxville Raceway this week, starting with qualifying on Thursday. He’ll also have the 410 in for Sunday’s “Capitani Classic” at Knoxville.
Wayne has run the last two weeks with the 410 at the Knoxville Raceway. On July 20, he finished 12th in the 32-car field. “We weren’t good at all,” he says. :We stumbled across a setup that we thought might work, and it didn’t work for anything for me. We tried it, and it just didn’t work.”
Going back to conventional tactics last Saturday night, Wayne timed in 8th quick and got through his heat to qualify for the feature. “We went back to what we had been doing before,” he says. “The car was decent. We’re just struggling in the slick more than anything. We have a lot of wheel spin. The motor is almost too good in those situations, and we have to figure out how to detune it for the slick.”
Running in the top five for much of the main event, Wayne lost ground on a couple of restarts and checkered ninth on Saturday. “On the restarts, you’ve gotta go and I’m spinning,” he says. “When we have our momentum up, we’re good. I’m really curb dependent right now, and I can’t run the bottom. It gets out of the tires so much going down the straightaway, when I get to the corner, the right rear is propped up with no grip and it’s spinning.”
Wayne and the team are confident things are headed in the right direction. “We’re definitely leaps and bounds better than we have been,” he says. “It’s not even close. I really feel good about the direction we’re headed with the 410.”
It’s been a rare occasion this year when Wayne has had a 360 under the hood. His last outing was a near win at Knoxville in June. He’s looking forward to the 360 Nationals this week. “(The motor) has eight or nine nights on it, but it’s still fresh enough to win this race,” he says. “We’re not bad. We were going to win the one night at Knoxville before we blew the left rear tire. I feel pretty good about it.”
The Maxim chassis he will be using has finished on top at the 360 Nationals before. “The one we’re running is the one we won the 360 Nationals with in 2008,” says Wayne. “It’s a good car. I wonder if anyone’s ever done that five years later and won? I think we can do it.”
Follow Updates on Facebook!
Wayne will update as his race night goes on at his Facebook page. Find it by searching for Wayne Johnson Racing or clicking the following link…
http://www.facebook.com/#!/WayneJohnsonRacing
Category: Driver Updates, Wayne Johnson
