Wednesdays with Wayne – Wins Keep Piling Up With Knoxville Score!

(Bill W) May 16, 2012 – The Wayne Johnson Racing #77x team made the long tow to Little Rock, Arkansas and back.  But with only a heat win to show for themselves in the “Natural State”, they needed only to return home to Knoxville Raceway Saturday night to record their seventh victory on the young season.  This one came in the 360 class, but the team plans on bringing the 410 out at Knoxville this Saturday night.

With group qualifying in hot laps, Wayne would register the fourth quick time of the night amongst the 28-car field.  “We had a tire shrink almost two inches on us, but we were still within a couple hundredths,” he says.  “We were a little loose out there.  Actually, it was a little bit of a last minute deal.  We had a used tire on there and forgot we had to qualify during hot laps!”

Starting fifth in the heat race, Wayne would drive up to second to qualify for the feature.  “Tyler Groenendyk got out there and did a good job,” he says.  “I felt like I was catching him a little bit, but it was going to take a lot longer than the seven laps that they run.  The second start we were able to drive right through the middle and get up through there.”

Starting fourth in the 18-lap main event, Wayne found himself chasing leader Jon Agan early on.  Disaster struck for Agan under caution.  “Jon was really running a good race and setting a good pace there,” he says.  “I was catching him a little bit, but I was biding my time until we got to traffic.  I was within a half a car length of him and all of a sudden, the caution came out and he was in the fence.  I’m not sure what happened.  I guess I said it last week, but I’d rather be lucky than good any day!”

The big news afterward was mufflers.  Wayne’s were sent to Schoenfeld, one of his trusty partners, and a development problem was found.  He was officially awarded the win on Tuesday.  “At first (in tech), they insinuated we were cheating,” he says.  “I said, ‘Wait a minute.’  I gave the money back and told them to cut the muffler off and send it back, because I hadn’t altered it.  Schoenfeld ended up finding a couple more on the shelf that they had that had been built wrong.  They are going to have a press release apologizing to us and explaining the issue.  Davey Heskin (410 winner) had the same issue that we did.”

Wayne is also chasing another amazing streak this weekend with the 410 at Knoxville.  He has finished in the top five in each race he has competed in!

Category: Driver Updates, News, Wayne Johnson