Friday at Road America

Today was a day with highs and some impactful lows.  The kind of lows that happen in racing. . .

The story started Thursday, in practice when car #91 lost an engine, forcing Jeff to run both Sprint and Sprint X races in car #191.

Friday started with rain, lots of rain.  The kind of rain that causes the series to evaluate the validity or having cars on track.  Qualifying for sprint was an untimed event.  Too much water for the timing equipment to function?  The grid would be determined by yesterday’s practice.  SprintX quali one was wet but ok, and Jeff Burton had a good run, but when the second drivers headed out the rain had intensified to the point it was quickly red-flagged.  Vesko’s starting position would be determined by his stellar P2 in practice yesterday. 

Sprint race one started wet but Paul Terry in the #59 Aston Martin had a very strong showing from the start.  As the weather moved on and the track dried, the pace picked up. Paul and Jeff were both moving forward.  A slippery track sent Jeff for a “spin and continue” starting his run  over from the back.  He was rapidly moving forward when unfortunate contact near the kink sent his #191 Aston hard into the wall.

SprintX race one started without the 91 of Jeff and Vesko, but saw a solid run toward the front with starting driver John Allen in the #16 Mercedes.  Kris WIlson took over during the stop and continued the push forward in a very fast field, finishing up P3 in class.  More hardware for the #16 roll tide AMG. 

Can the team build one car from two?  Stay tuned. . .