Jason Patison and his Lucas Oil Super Late Model team traveled to Toyota Speedway of Irwindale, CA for the April 23rd NASCAR Whelen event. The team was looking to turn their luck around after being wrecked during the opening night race at Toyota Speedway.
" I know we have a car that can win out here and we can’t afford to give away any more races."— Jason Patison
“We had a real good car last time but after we burnt a sparkplug wire and slowed up significantly, that lead to a slower car catching us and eventually turning us into the wall while trying to pass us. My crew chief Steve Teets thrashed on the car until late last night so we’re going to hit the track and hope everything is right,” said Patison during a pre-race interview.
The car was sluggish out of the gate so Patison and team made several changes before qualifying in hopes that it would bring the car alive. The gamble paid off, Patison turned a 17.61 around the ½ mile his best official lap ever at Toyota Speedway. The lap was five hundredths of a second off the track record and good enough to start second for the main event.
When the green flag dropped pole sitter Rod Johnson jumped out to an early lead followed closely by Patison. Turning times nearly as fast as qualifying, the two quickly separated themselves from the rest of the field. By lap 30 Patison began to close in on the leader, narrowing the gap to only two car lengths but unfortunately 5 laps later Patison’s engine began to miss-fire again and the number 17 machine slowed dramatically. Patison ran the high-groove the remainder of the race to keep his momentum up and was able to limp home and hang on to third place.
“I’m happy to finish on the podium but these engine problems are getting very frustrating, I know we have a car that can win out here and we can’t afford to give away and more races, “said Patison after the event.
The third place finish moves Patison up to 4th in the point standings with 7 races left in the 2011 season.
Jason Patison Racing would like to thank all their sponsors for their continued support: Lucas Oil, E3 Sparkplugs, MAVTV, MagnaFlow Exhaust, SpeedCo, Premier Motorsports, and K&N Filters
