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Sam gets first win of season in the big race at New Smyrna
Sam came back to the racetrack on Wednesday night with a car looking like a patchwork quilt. Without time to paint it or have numbers made up, the crew put the 73 car through tech in preparation for the 50 lap race on Thursday night.
Without the regular crew chief on-hand, they decided that Sam would just run around at the back of the pack to make sure the car was in good in shape. As the cars settled down, Sam started to work his way through the pack. He made his way up to the second and was pushing the 26 car of Jason Boyd around the track. Every line Sam tried to take, Boyd blocked. Sam’s car was by far the fastest, but he ran Boyd clean but just wasn’t able to get past him. We settled for second place with a clean car, ready for the 50-lap race on Thursday night.
Qualifying was filled with problems on Thursday, as the weather would not cooperate. Sam got in two attempts—the first being the fastest time—but then it rained, so it was thrown out. Sam ended up starting in tenth position but the rain came again, and the race was called for the night.
The 50-lap race was held on Friday night. Sam qualified fourth fastest with the front-runners all soaking tires and getting faster times. The leader drew an eight, this put Sam in the fifth position. At the drop of the green flag, there was a huge wreck underneath the flagman, finishing off the hopes of the 21 and 86 cars. The race was totally restarted, but this time Sam started in the third spot.
The 119 car led for the first six laps with Sam pressuring him from behind. Sam then got past him as he came out of turn 2. He never looked back after that. Sam had pressure from the 21x car of Derrick Kelly on the restarts, but as his tires warmed up he pulled away again. Another caution came with seven laps to go, which put pressure on Sam to get a clean start. At the drop of the green flag he took off and continued to lead the rest of the race. Sam’s Speedweeks ended up going well. He drove a very sensible and mature race, bringing home a clean racecar. Although Sam was sick, he managed to get the job done. The whole crew was overjoyed!
Come cheer Sam on in his next race and the unveiling of his new 73 car at Lakeland on March 10th!
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