BALDWIN PARK, California — Coming into tonight’s race, 16 year old Late Model rookie driver Taylor Miinch was looking to solidify his 2nd place standing in the Auto Club Late Model points standings and hopefully eat away at series points leader Brandon Davis’ lead. With 58 points separating Taylor from overtaking Davis, the next 6 races would be critical for the young racer who has impressed many as a rookie at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
Hot and muggy conditions greeted the Position One Motorsports team upon their arrival at the ½ mile track earlier in the day, but the conditions would have little affect on Taylor, who would go on to put the #03 Position One Motorsports/Jan’s Towing car 4th and 1st on the timesheets for the day’s 2 practice sessions with a time of 19.420 and 19.313 respectively. Led by Crew Chief Steve Boldroff, the team went to work on trying to get the car prepped for the qualifying session later in the day.
With another beautiful Southern California sunset as the backdrop, the Auto Club Late Model qualifying session arrived and Taylor took his #03 entry and carved around the ½ mile track and smoothly completed his 2-lap run, bringing the car 3rd on the timesheets.
Starting in the third position Taylor didn’t waste any time trying to move his way towards the front. Diving on the inside of turn #1, Miinch was determined to find an inch of track to take advantage of and take the 2nd spot. Taylor would eventually lose a couple of positions during the 4-car battle. The fast and fierce pace of the race was interrupted on lap #12 when a caution came out. Taylor’s restart saw him rocket forward and he retook the 4th place position and solidly held that for most of the race. With 3 laps left Miinch started to make his move for the spot. A last lap incident allowed Taylor one more opportunity to take the third spot and at the restart of the race Miinch made the most of the opportunity and took the third spot from the #51 of Nik Romano by only inches, as both cars crossed the finish line. This marks Taylor’s 4th top-3 finish of the season.
Taylor Miinch – Driver No. 03 – “We improved on the car a lot tonight. It was the best car I’ve had all year and we’re inching closer to actually winning a race. The restarts we had were great and it’s just a matter of time. The Position One Motorsports crew worked so hard to get us where we are and my thanks go out to them and to Jan’s Towing for the support.”
