PR Nick Sweet
| SWEET TIES BEST FINISH IN TD BANK 250 Mechanical failure costs top 5 finish Oxford, ME – Barre, VT’s Nick Sweet tied his best career TD Bank 250 finish of 6th on Sunday’s 37th running of the event at Oxford Plains Speedway. Sweet started his day drawing the final starting position, 11th in his qualifying heat. It took Sweet only two laps to race 3-wide up to 5th, and then made it to the fourth and final qualifying position by the end of the 15 lap heat race to qualify 23rd in the 250. Sweet knew he had his work cut out for him after he drew his starting position. “I knew at that moment that I need to race hard, and probably have to utilize all of the grooves if I was going to qualify in round one, so I took some chances which paid off.” |
| Seventy-nine cars attempted to make the 39 car field, including NASCAR Nationwide point leader Brad Keselowski, who took a provisional starting position. Six time and defending ACT Late Model Tour champion Brian Hoar earned the pole position by winning the first qualifying heat. Sweet started his surge ahead at the drop of the green flag, quickly racing his way into the top 15 using both inside and outside lanes on the 1/3 mile flat oval. It wasn’t long however before race leader Brad Leighton of Center Harbor, NH caught up to Sweet, putting him a lap down just after the half-way point. “We were just settling in a good rhythm at that point,” recalls Sweet. “We weren’t pushing it too hard but making our way up through.” “Brad was just so fast he lapped a lot of cars early.” Sweet would fight back in the later stages, passing Leighton to get back on the lead lap before the final caution on lap 203. “It felt really good to be able to race past Leighton to get my lap back, the caution fell at the perfect time so I could stay on the lead lap.” That final caution was for Leighton himself, who cut a right front tire going into turn four, spinning off the track in turns 1 and 2. Pole sitter Brian Hoar, who had only taken one new tire on a lap 140 restart when most drivers took 4, pitted during that final caution, replacing his used up 3 Goodyear tires with fresh ones, for a final charge from 5th position. Sweet restarted inside the top five with less just 47 laps to go, and was in fifth position on lap 249, behind leader Eddie MacDonald, Cory Morgan, Brian Hoar, and Brent Dragon. After crossing the line under the white flag, the rear end in the #88 broke, sending Sweet spinning off of turn one. The STJAUTO.COM Pontiac never made it to the line for the checkered flag, and Sweet was credited with 6th position, the first car one lap down. You could see the disappointment on Sweet’s face. “This was not the finish we were hoping for, we had such a strong car, I can’t believe we broke on the white flag.” This ties the team’s best TD Bank 250 finish, which was in his rookie year in 2008. Mike Loschiavo, one of the owners of the Saint J Auto group understands the disappointment with the finish but was overall impressed with the performance. “The TD Bank 250 is such a tough race to qualify for. We were happy to see the Saint J Auto car in contention with some of the best drivers in New England.” Sweet and the Saint J Auto team will change their focus back to their home track, Thunder Road International Speedbowl where they are in a heated championship point battle, trailing point leader David Pembroke by just 22 points with 6 point-counting races remaining this season. The next race is Thursday night. More information on sweet racing can be found at www.sweetracing88.com, Saint J Auto’s complete inventory can be found at www.stjauto.com. -end- Media Contact: Troy Germain |
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