What started out as a dream weekend for Brandon Davis, continued to improve once he arrived at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on June 25th. Prior to getting into the late model, Davis was busy turning heads at Infineon in his K&N Pro West car where he clinched the pole and was running second to Joey Logano prior to blowing his engine. His redemption came just hours later.
After arriving back into Southern California, Davis hopped into his HPR late model for the first time during the day to qualify. Despite the warmer temperatures during the day, conditions were just right for Brandon as he pulled out and he laid down the fastest lap recorded in the Auto Club Late Models ever, breaking his own record with a 18.445. From the invert, Davis would line up fourth for the main event.
With three heavy competitors surrounding him, Brandon worked on preserving the car and keeping it on one piece in the early portion of the race. The battle up front was intense, with two HPR teammates and another competitor battling Davis for the top spot non-stop for the first ten laps of the race. Besides a yellow on lap ten, the track seemed clear for the rest of the race as the #55 of Davis worked on reeling in his teammate Romano. While the 55 was strong during the whole run, the #51 of Romano appeared to be able to hold off Davis as long as he did not have the top line. The yellow flew with four laps to go and Romano chose the high line, a move that looked like it may be a victory choice. Despite a great restart by Romano, Davis pulled his signature “drive and dive” into turn one on the green and somehow made the car stick. He drove it in so hard, that upon the exit of two the 55 slid up sideways right up to the wall without contact. Brandon went on to win his sixth race of the season over three of his teammates, giving the team a clinch of the top four spots which has never been done before.
Brandon proved how well he is at adapting to tracks in the same day, going from the winding road course and running up front, to hopping onto the short track and not only breaking the track record, but also claiming the victory.
Davis will return in the late model on July 16th at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. For more information on Brandon Davis and High Point Racing, please visit www.highpointracing.com.
