BALDWIN PARK, California — Taylor Miinch and the Position One Motorsports team arrived at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale under unseasonably cold and cloudy conditions, looking for a brighter result than what they had at their last race. Two weeks ago, an engine problem prematurely ended the 16-year-old rookie’s race. The resulting 11th place finish left everyone, including Taylor, disappointed. Remembering that, the team returned looking to rebound and put in a top-10 performance.
Earlier in the afternoon, Miinch took part in the division’s two practice sessions and it was apparent that there was no rust or bad effects from the previous unfortunate weekend. Miinch laid down fast times that put him solidly 4th and 2nd on the timesheets. For qualifying, Taylor went out and ran two very quick laps, propelling the #03 Position One Motorsports entry around the half-mile track and taking all of the real estate the track had to offer. The effort was rewarded and Miinch would end up qualifying a season best 4th.
Starting 4th, among a crowded 21-car field, Miinch took the start of the race, but soon fell back a few positions. Jostling for spots on the track, Miinch would eventually settle back in the 8th spot by lap #6. Successfully fending off an attack by the #90 of Toni McCray, Miinch went to work on regaining his lost positions and by lap #18 he had retaken the 7th spot and immediately went to work on the cars ahead of him. On lap # 23 the rookie had caught up to the #11 of Kyle McGrady and the #85 of Travis Irving who were both engaged in a battle for the 5th spot. The 3-way fight between Miinch, Irving and McGrady went on until Miinch was able to pass McGrady on lap #39, taking the 6th spot away. With 11 laps left in the race, Miinch rushed forward to catch up to Irving and challenged him for 5th. With every lap, Miinch continued to pursue Irving and crept up alongside him at every turn. On the final lap, both drivers would race each other hard to the checkered flag. In the end, Miinch would reconcile himself to finishing the race in the 6th spot, despite only being separated less than a second from Irving. The 6th place finish equals Miinch’s best finishing position of the season, which came at the April 16th race.
Miinch and the Position One Motorsports crew won’t have time to rest. They will return next week to compete in the Auto Club Late Model division at the Armed Forces Appreciation Night at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
Taylor Miinch, Driver No. 03 - “We as a team deserved this win. We have worked very hard on this program and after a difficult last race; it was good to have a result like this. We made a lot of improvements this weekend and it felt good running with the top-5 drivers throughout the race. It was definitely fun to be up there and race hard for the 50 laps. I cannot thank the crew enough for their efforts this weekend.”
John Schuetze, Crew Chief No. 03 - “This whole weekend went well. The crew deserved this result, as did Taylor. We’re back and the progress that we’ve shown in the past races is continuing and I would expect us to take what we learned tonight, and the hunger that Taylor is starting to exhibit and improve on our efforts for next week.”
ABOUT POSITION ONE MOTORSPORTS
Based in Baldwin Park, CA, Position One Motorsports enters its 4th year of stock car competition at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. In the past 3 years of competition the team has garnered a Championship in the S2 division in 2009, 1 win and multiple top-10s with drivers Mackena Bell, Sergio Pena, Randel King, and Luis Martinez Jr. For 2011 Rodney Johnson Jr and Taylor Miinch will pilot the team’s Super Late and Late Model division cars respectively. You can follow Position One Motorsports on Twitter at www.twitter.com/PositionOne and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/PositionOne .You can also visit the team’s website at www.position-one.com
