Saturday August 11 - Lucas Oil Speedway - Wheatland, MO

Chris and Mark Antal headed south and joined up with the Crump team to compete in the MARS/MLRA shootout at the Lucas Oil Speedway. Chris started from the pole of the first heat race and lead all 10 laps to take the win. Chris earned the 7th starting spot in the 40 lap A-main.

At the drop of the green in the A-main, Chris moved to the low side of the track and began to steadily work his way to the front. By the 10th lap, Chris was in the 3rd spot and shadowing 2nd place Jack Sullivan. The leaders began working lapped traffic, and Chris went high and low to maneuver through the slower cars. When the first caution flew on lap 23, Chris was still sitting 3rd and looking for a solid top 5 finish.

After an extended caution period, Chris restarted and drove past Sullivan on the front chute and entered turn 1 in the 2nd spot. Sullivan drove back past exiting turn 2, and Chris began to struggle with the car as it seemed to lose it's traction. Chris began fading backward and was in the 9th spot when the final caution flew with 5 laps remaining.

Chris tried to buzz the tires on the caution and get the car to come back to life, but he didn't have much luck. Chris took the checkers in a side by side battle for the 8th spot with Eric Turner but was scored 9th.

When Chris returned to the pits, the guys discovered that the left rear tire had sealed over on the caution and had lost all its grip. With the left rear tire sealed up, the car just wouldn't go forward like it had for the first half of the race. If the race had went green flag, Chris would have certainly held onto a top 5 finish, but that's racin'.

We were thrilled that we got the car working good on the dry slick surface, and we are looking forward to our next trip back.