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Austin McCarl – C'mon Dad!
(Bill W) July 13, 2011 – It's clear Austin McCarl will have to earn his way to Victory Lane at Knoxville Raceway. Unfortunately, after dominating the first of two main events last Saturday night, a red flag flew with four laps to go. That gave Austin's father, Terry, a shot at his 51st career win at the facility. Still, a career-best second place finish was the result. Bad news in the second feature saw a damaged power plant and uncertainty about participation in this Saturday's race at Knoxville despite a fourth place point standing.
Austin had hoped to practice Thursday at Knoxville, but rain intervened. "I don't know what my deal has been lately," he says of his qualifying. "We got some new shocks and we were going to test them in a practice on Thursday that got rained out. In hot laps, I didn't get many clean laps."
He overcame his recent struggles by registering the 8th quick time of the night. "I was a little nervous going out there to qualify," says Austin. "I just did the best I could, and turned a good lap."
Starting fourth in the heat, Austin came home a solid second. "(Turns) One and two was a lot wider than three and four in the heat," he says. "We got a good start and got a good position. At that point, you want to make good laps and hold your own."
Starting sixth, Austin made a move past his Pop and Dusty Zomer into fourth early. "The car was great," he says of the TMAC Motorsports #17A. "We got a really good start. I was able to get a run on the high side around my Dad and Zomer there. We got around them, and at that point I was third running qualifying laps."
After moving by Josh Schneiderman, next on the agenda was Kevin Swindell in second. "I was able to run down Kevin and got by him," says Austin. "Something happened to (leader) Lynton (Jeffrey), which was unfortunate, and that gave us the lead."
The Altoona, Iowa driver set sail, as his father moved into second. "We were going good, waiting for traffic," says Austin. "We were getting through traffic great. We didn't know if someone was on us or not. Whenever that happens, you get through there the best you can and try to get some cars between you and second."
Nothing seemed to be in the way from his first career win at Knoxville. That's when the red flag flew with four laps to go. "(The crew) told me to do the same thing I did on the first start," he says. "My Dad got a pretty good run on me in three and got underneath me. It was kind of 'game over' at that point."
The second place finish was the best of his Knoxville career, and he was happy to have a marketing partner join in the fun. "It was a lot of fun to have the Kosama (of Altoona) guys there with us again," says Austin. "I hope they can come on board again in the future."
In the second feature of the night, things went South for the motor. "They moved us back a couple of rows," says Austin of being caught for jumping the start. "We started cruising, and the thing started to vibrate. It was making weird noises and I shut it down. We ended up breaking a valve and hurt the head."
Now fourth in Knoxville Raceway points, he hopes he can find something to put between the frame rails this Saturday night. "Hopefully, we can get something put together for this weekend," he says. "I think we've proved we have a fast car and a great team. We're capable of winning and running up front."
Visit Austin on the Web!
Keep up to date on Austin's exploits and check out the new look at www.AustinMcCarl.com!
Austin's Releases
If you'd like to be included via e-mail, shoot one to [email protected] with "Austin" in the subject line.
Austin would like to thank AmeriCash Advance.com, Rossie Feed and Grain, DeBerg Concrete, Deanfield Farms, Phil and Vivian, L. Wayne Trucking, Vortex, CM Rock, Mark Burch Motorsports, Engler, HRP, Aurora Rod Ends, Butlerbuilt, KSE, Hoosier Tire, BRMS, K&N Filters, Sander, Jocko's Sprint Parts, Crow Safety and Bell Helmets for all their help!
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Austin runs the high side at Knoxville (Brandon Anderson Photography)
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