On June 26th, the weather wouldn't cooperate, and rain forced the race to be moved to the following week. On July 3rd, things looked almost as bad from everywhere, except the track. Somehow the scattered showers all seemed to miss the 1/3 mile oval at Speedway 95, and we were able to put on a great show, have some fun, and even enjoy some great fireworks.
Since the last race, the #20 team had been able to find some of the things that upset the handling in the last race. In particular, the right front suspension was binding. After making the necessary changes, the car was much better.
In practice the car was much more predictable, but still a bit loose. For the heat race, the #20 team dropped the rear tire pressures a bit and went up a round on the left rear. With those adjustments, it was much easier to drive. All of the cars in the second heat were very close together and racing was tight. There wasn't much room for passing and speeds were very close, so it was hard to gain any positions. A few laps into the heat race, Mark passed the #17 car on the inside and moved into the fifth position, but a lap later as the rear tires started to give up traction, the #17 slipped back by on the inside. Mark finished 6th overall in the heat race, but was only a couple car lengths away from first.
After a great fireworks display, the #20 car started the feature on the outside of the front row. The first lap or two, the #20 and #9 were side by side, but Mark eventually edged him out and led the pack for the next three or four laps. As the tires heated up, the car didn't want to stay down low as well, and Mark would have to chase it up the track some. Eventually the faster cars from the back of the pack began to work their way through the field and slipped by on the inside one by one. The entire race was caution free, and the #20 ended up 11th overall. This is the best finish of the season so far. Now to get the rear tires to grip better late in the race and break into the top ten...